Our elderly and vulnerable population deserve better than this. Reports that GPs will not have sufficient flu vaccines until the end of the year is disgraceful.
As a result, pensioners may be forced into buying the vaccine privately from local supermarkets .
This is because more than 2 million doses will not reach our GPs until December and it is feared that some vulnerable people will not get their vaccines until the New Year, well into the flu season.
According to Andrew Lansley, Shadow Health Secretary, this is the third year running that supplies have been late, the Dept of Health doesn’t seemed to have learned from its past mistakes.
The jabs, which will be administered by nurses during appointments at supermarket pharmacies, will cost nearly £15, while private medical centres can charge more than £20. This is a considerable portion of a single person’s weekly pension of £84.25.
My feeling is that they won’t bother if they can’t get the vaccine from their GP, they simply won’t know which supermarkets and medical centres it is available from, they may not have the means to travel there, and many won’t be able to afford it.
If they do pay privately, the Government should be made to repay them for the vaccine as they have created this crisis.
The situation has caused considerable concern among Help the Aged who have urged the Government to resolve this before it is too late. Cold weather can kill up to 20,000 people a year in the UK, rising to 40,000 in particularly cold winters, with thousands of deaths attributable to the flu.
Let’s just hope there isn’t a pandemic. The Health Protection Agency has a new data sharing system which will identify areas of the country with a high number of flu outbreaks where the NHS may need to concentrate its efforts.
However, if will fall flat on its face if vaccines have run out. And then there is the question of hospital beds, will we have enough to meet demand because of ward closures/staff shortages? Most unlikely.
So I strongly suggest we take it upon ourselves to ensure that elderly relatives, friends and neighbours get their flu vaccine. Don’t leave them in Patricia Hewitt‘s uncaring hands.
“If they do pay privately, the Government should be made to repay them”
Ellee – you mean, of course, that WE the taxpayer should repay them – please always remember the Government doesn’t actually have any money per se!
Peter, True, but it is also their money too as it comes from their past contributions. It’s surely cheaper in the long run to ensure they are vaccinated at the right time, rather than ending up suffering a terrible flu – and no hospital bed if their condition becomes critical. Which is the cheapest to remedy?
Ellee; it’s disgraceful about the lack of flu vaccine. My father is 82, and want to ensure he gets a shot.
Jean-Luc, I suggest you help to make sure that he does, and also his friends, they may not know how to go about accessing vaccines from sources other than their GP. Don’t let them leave it too late.
This is applalling, Ellee. Like you, I think that the most vulnerable won’t bother if they can’t get the jab from their GP: it takes a considerable amount of energy to go elsewhere, especially if you don’t have transport – and that’s assuming you have access to the information.
There is no flu vaccine every year? Why…
because Hewitt is incapable of even givin the right orders to the private sector.
Also we have been stocking up on the much more expensive Bird Flu vaccine.
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