Swine flu jab for all is health trust target
Health chiefs in South Staffordshire were today drawing up battle plans to deliver a comprehensive swine flu vaccination programme.
Health chiefs in South Staffordshire were today drawing up battle plans to deliver a comprehensive swine flu vaccination programme.
Priority groups have been earmarked for jabs following advice from independent scientific experts.
Groups will be prioritised for vaccination in order by South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust once the vaccine has been licensed. They include people aged six months to 65 years in the current seasonal flu vaccine clinical at-risk groups, pregnant women, and over-65s deemed to be at risk.
Household contacts of people in regular close contact with patients having treatment for cancer are another priority category.
Frontline health and social care workers will be offered the vaccine at the same time as the first clinical risk group.
The trust will receive further operational guidance on the roll-out of the programme over the next few weeks and ensure the protection of the population.
More than a million swine flu vaccine jabs are to be given in South Staffordshire during the autumn – with everyone getting two injections.
The whole 615,350 population covered by South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust – including Stafford – will be vaccinated.
The 1.2 million injections will be on top of the normal flu vaccination programme offered each winter.
The second injection will follow three weeks after the first. The trust is expecting 184,650 cases of swine flu during the pandemic and between 185 and 646 deaths.
Nine more Tamiflu collection points opened across South Staffordshire last week including one in Cannock.
South Staffordshire PCT came in for criticism for leaving the town out of its original list which saw antiviral collection points in Stafford, Rugeley, Lichfield, Tamworth, Codsall and Burton upon Trent.
The second wave has seen collection points open at community pharmacies in Cannock, Burntwood, Stone, Wombourne, Uttoxeter, Stafford, Tutbury, Tamworth and Burton upon Trent, bringing the total number in South Staffordshire to 15.
Around 200 primary care trust workers have been trained in dealing with the pandemic.
