Minister blamed for flu outbreak

London: Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has been blamed for an explosion in the number of children contracting flu after his decision to cancel a vaccination programme for under-fives.

On Monday night, Labour demanded a rethink after the Coalition ditched an immunisation programme for those aged between six months and five years old, which was brought in last year to combat the spread of swine flu.

The Health Secretary also faced calls to reinstate a £1.5 million (Dh8.55 million) advertising campaign to encourage the vulnerable to get immunised as figures revealed that take-up for children has dropped.

Doctors have expressed alarm that the two decisions have left thousands of children at risk of contracting deadly strains of the virus.

Nine of the 27 people who have died of flu this winter are children, while 26 of the 460 patients now in intensive care with flu are aged under five.

The Department of Health's own figures show that immunisation rates among children and other at-risk groups are down on last year.

While two out of three pensioners have had a flu jab, just 41.5 per cent in high risk groups under-65 — including children, pregnant women and those with respiratory disorders — have been inoculated.

Last year the take-up rate was 47 per cent for the under-65s.

Advice

In January, the Government's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation advised that it would be "prudent" to include children aged six months to five years in this winter's flu vaccine programme.

But the advice was dropped in July after it was sent to Lansley. Labour health spokesman John Healey said Lansley had "made the wrong judgement" in ditching the vaccinations for young children.

He told the Daily Mail: "The serious problem lies with the groups that are most at risk, like children.

"That has come because the Government axed the annual advertising campaign and they cancelled the flu jab plan for the under-fives.

"The Health Secretary has been silent. The only attention he's paid to preparations for this winter's flu outbreak was to axe the autumn advertising campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated and make them aware of the risks.

"He made the wrong judgement which has left many people without the flu protection they should have.

"The lessons were learned last year and they have been quickly forgotten.

"We know this is not normal winter flu, which affects the elderly. This is flu that affects the young."

He said the £1.5million saved by ending the advertising campaign would be overshadowed by the costs of keeping flu victims in intensive care.

Figures published by the Royal College of General Practitioners show that the under-fives are the second worst hit group when it comes to flu infections, with 124 out of every 100,000 ill.

Only those aged five to 14, where 160 out of 100,000 have contracted a virus, are worse off.

By contrast, among the more heavily inoculated over-65s, just 17 out of every 100,000 pensioners have gone down with flu.

Protection

Dr George Kassianos, immunisation spokesman for the Royal College of GPs, said: "Children disperse the virus much more than any other group.

"So, if we vaccinate the young, we protect everyone else, including parents and other young people."

Professor John Oxford, a virologist, said: "The time has come to move to vaccinating young children. I appreciate mothers are concerned but the vaccine is safe and swine flu is not."

A Department of Health spokesman said: "The Department does not intend to run a central marketing campaign".