Mass swine flu vaccination of children under discussion

Friday, 7 August 2009 12:00 AM

By Liz Stephens

A plan for the biggest mass vaccination program since the 1964 operation against smallpox, is being discussed by ministers.

Every pupil in the UK would be immunised against swine flu with school nurses and GPs visiting schools to deliver the injections.

The plans would form part of the government's effort to minimise an expected second wave of the pandemic in the autumn, when children return to school.

However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that vaccinations will not be available until October, as clinical tests are still ongoing.

This would be after schools term starts and is contrary to previous ministerial assurances that the vaccine would be available by the end of this month.

A Whitehall source told the Guardian: "The general principle of schools being the ideal, logical place to do this is well established. They have captive audiences".

Critics have questioned whether there would be enough health professionals available to administer the jabs.

There are only 1,447 school nurses for schools in England. Vaccinating a secondary school could take several days.

It was announced yesterday that the first wave of the pandemic appears to be coming to an end with the number of cases falling significantly in recent days.

However, despite the drop off in the number of cases, nine more people in England have died, taking the death toll to 36.

The Department of Health (DoH) said last night that the immunisation strategy was not yet agreed.

A DoH spokeswoman said: "We have not said that schools will deliver the vaccination programme for swine flu.

"Decisions have not been made on how the vaccine programme will be delivered, and the chief medical officer has said that he expects GPs to be the bedrock of the programme,"

It is thought that the under-fives and other priority groups will continue to be immunised at GPs' surgeries.

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