New photo Flu jab shortage sees 1.3m fewer over-65s vaccinated than last year as GPs turn elderly away

The flu jab shortage has left 1.3million fewer pensioners vaccinated than at this time last year, it emerged yesterday.

Figures from Public Health England show that up until November 11 only 52 per cent of over-65s – around 5.2million – had received the vaccine.

This is well below the 65 per cent who had been vaccinated at the same point last year.

Meanwhile, nearly 69 per cent of GPs say they have experienced a shortage of the jab, according to a survey by doctors’ magazine Pulse, forcing them to turn away elderly patients as a result.

Only 52 per cent of elderly patients have received the jab while 69 per cent of GPs reported a shortage of the vaccine

Fluad - the new system - has sparked rows between NHS England and GPs

The survey of 650 GPs revealed only 20 per cent of practices had had no trouble securing the vaccine.

Problems have been blamed on the staggered roll-out of the new, more effective jab for over-65s, which has been released in batches.

NHS officials insist that by tomorrow the final batches will have been delivered to surgeries and pharmacists.

They claim this will mean 7.8million vaccines will have been sent out – more than enough to hit the 73 per cent vaccination rate seen last year, when 7.4million over-65s received the jab.

But GPs say insufficient supplies in September, October and earlier this month meant they could not vaccinate as many patients as they liked.

The fiasco over the new jab – called Fluad – has triggered a war of words between NHS England and GPs. Officials insist GPs were given plenty of notice of the phased supply system, but doctors say they were only told in February – four months after they usually place their orders.

Dr Marie Williams, a GP from Blackpool, said: ‘It has been a complete debacle, wasting practice and patient time.

‘To add insult to injury, patients have been complaining that it’s the practice’s fault when clinic appointments have been sent out in good faith and supplies ordered in plenty of time.’

'I fear another killer winter' 

 Pharmacist Phil Hunt believes the jabs shortage has set the NHS up for another bad winter.

Mr Hunt, in the job for 46 years, usually receives stocks by September. This year, however, the jabs did not arrive at Stokes Croft Pharmacy in Bristol until early November.

Because of the delays, some patients are likely to completely miss out on the vaccination, he added. Warning that flu season was on its way, Mr Hunt, 69, said: ‘The proportion of people who have not been able to get their vaccines is large enough that I think we are potentially in line for a bad winter.’

Mr Hunt, pictured, said everyone he had vaccinated in the past week said they had been back and forth to their local health centre – but there were no supplies left.

‘I don’t think the quantity of people injected will be anything like as high as it has been in previous years,’ he added. 

Dr Melanie Blackman, a GP from Wiltshire, told Pulse: ‘Failed delivery times – delayed by two weeks – resulted in us having to cancel or move 170+ appointments.’

Last winter the jab given to millions had little effect because one of the strains it targeted had already mutated.

Doctors hope the improved vaccine will stop a repeat of that – but the supply issues could hit the vaccination effort.

Dr Richard Vautrey, of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, said: ‘Previously, many patients will have been used to receiving their vaccination on demand from their GP or pharmacist, but because of the phased delivery, this has not been possible this year.

'However, with the next delivery of vaccines expected this month, we have been assured that there are adequate supplies to vaccinate all those who need it.’

NHS England said: ‘This survey of little more than one per cent of GPs ignores the fact that this week, 100 per cent of vaccines will have been delivered by the manufacturer to those surgeries and pharmacists who placed an order on time, so the public can be assured that there is sufficient supply of the vaccine in stock for everyone to get protected.’

https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/category/the-sun-world/
https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/flu-jab-shortage-sees-1-3m-fewer-over-65s-vaccinated-than-last-year-as-gps-turn-elderly-away/
News Pictures Flu jab shortage sees 1.3m fewer over-65s vaccinated than last year as GPs turn elderly away 

You don’t have to pack away your bikini just because you’re the wrong side of 20. These body-beautiful stars reveal their secrets to staying in shape and prove you can smoulder in a two-piece, whatever your age. Read on and be bikini inspired!

TEENS
Hayden Panettiere
Size: 8
Age: 18
Height: 5ft 1in
Weight: 8st

To achieve her kick-ass figure, Hayden – who plays cheerleader Claire Bennet in Heroes – follows the ‘quartering’ rule. She eats only a quarter of the food on her plate, then waits 20 minutes before deciding whether she needs to eat again.

Hayden says: “I don’t have a model’s body, but I’m not one of those crazy girls who thinks that they’re fat. I’m OK with what I have.”

Nicollette says: “I don’t like diets – I see it, I eat it! I believe in eating healthily with lots of protein, vegetables and carbs to give you energy.”

kim cattrall

Size: 10-12
Age: 52
Height: 5ft 8in
Weight: 9st 4lb

SATC star Kim swears by gym sessions with Russian kettle bells (traditional cast-iron weights) and the South Beach Diet to give her the body she wants. To avoid overeating, Kim has a radical diet trick – squirting lemon juice on her leftovers – so she won’t carry on picking.

Kim says: “I am no super-thin Hollywood actress. I am built for men who like women to look like women.”
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/11/15/23/6249918-6395783-image-a-1_1542325116307.jpg