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Government plans swine flu vaccination for all pupils
Published 07 August 2009
Ministers considering immunising 8.5 million pupils against swine flu
The government is studying plans to immunise all 8.5 million pupils in the UK against swine flu, according to reports.
In what would be the biggest mass vaccination since 1964, GPs would immunise five- to 16-year-olds at all 33,700 schools, reports today's Guardian.
A senior Whitehall source told the paper: "The general principle of schools being the ideal, logical place to do this is well established. They have captive audiences".
The news came as the World Health Organisation announced that the first swine flu vaccines were likely to be licensed for use in September.
The Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, had previously suggested that vaccines would be available this month. A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: "The manufacturers have told us that we can expect the first supplies of the vaccine from Baxter in August and from GlaxoSmithKline later in September. This is not the DH's schedule - it is led by the manufacturers."
Clinical trails of the vaccine are currently being held in the US, Australia, the UK, Germany and China, with the results expected in September.
Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, director of the WHO vaccine research initiative, assured people the vaccines were safe and based on "old and proven technology".
The number of new swine flu cases in Britain has decreased significantly, according to new figures released yesterday.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said it estimated there were 30,000 new cases last week, down from 110,000 the week before.
But a further nine people have died from the virus, bringing the total number of deaths in England to 36.
The Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, warned that he expected a second wave of the virus to begin once schools return in September.
"It's just guesswork," he said. "We would anticipate when the schools were back, at some point after that, it will start to rise again."
The HPA emphasised that there is no evidence to suggest that the virus is mutating.
"There is no sign that the virus is changing. It is not becoming more severe or developing resistance to anti-virals," the agency said.
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