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Swine flu update: 24 November
| Published: 25th November 2009 08:35 |
The Department of Health has announced that the swine flu vaccination programme will be extended to offer all children over six months and under five protection against the virus.
The decision is supported by the panel of experts that provide advice on vaccination issues - the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) - and has been taken because children under five years of age are more likely than other groups to be hospitalised if they become ill with swine flu. Young children also have high rates of admission to critical care and, sadly, some deaths have also been recorded.
NHS Barking and Dagenham is currently developing plans to carry out the vaccination of this group locally. They will be announced within the next two weeks.
A dedicated swine flu vaccination centre for people with egg allergies has been set up in Barking and Dagenham .
The vaccination centre is located at the
Porters Avenue Health Centre,
234 Porters Avenue,
Dagenham, RM8 2AQ,
Eligible patients will need to make an
appointment by calling 020 8596 7850
This centre is reserved for patients who fall within one of the swine flu vaccination priority groups and also have an allergy to eggs. The Department of Health has asked all Primary Care Trusts in the UK to establish the dedicated vaccination centres to ensure patients with egg allergies are allocated the correct vaccine. Two vaccines are currently being used in the vaccination programme. Patients with egg allergies have been advised to receive the Baxter produced Celvapan because eggs have not been used in its production, unlike the GSK produced Pandemrix.
Local residents who have been advised by their GP that they are eligible for the swine flu vaccine who are also aware that they are allergic to eggs should inform their GP of their allergy and ask to be vaccinated at the egg allergy vaccination centre.
Locally demand for antiviral medication has remained steady, averaging around 40 collections per day. That is well within contingency limits. Anyone collecting antiviral medication on behalf of someone who is ill is reminded that they will need to take the prescription or unique reference number (this is the number allocated by the National Pandemic Flu Service) to a dedicated antiviral pharmacy. They will also need to bring personal ID for themselves and ID for the person who has been allocated the medication. ID can include a diver's license, passport or utility bill.
There are eight pharmacies in Barking and Dagenham that are equipped to distributed antiviral medication. However, local residents can collect antivirals from any antiviral pharmacy located in the country. A list of locations is available at www.direct.gov.uk/pandemicflu
Current advice for the public
1. If people suspect that they or a member of their family has swine flu they should visit the National Pandemic Flu website by clicking on their logo
or call Flu Line 0800 1 513 100
Textphone for people who are deaf
or hard of hearing 0800 1 513 200
2. The following people should still contact their GP direct if they have swine flu symptoms:
• pregnant women
• children under one
• people with underlying health conditions
• their condition suddenly gets much worse
• their condition is still getting worse after 7 days (5 for a child)
3. A Q&A on swine flu vaccination is available from www.bdpct.nhs.uk
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