Swine flu jab scheme about to start

With the number of swine flu cases in Ireland continuing to rise, vaccines will start to arrive in GP surgeries from the beginning of next week, the HSE and Department of Health said yesterday.

The Department of Health and HSE have said the swine flu vaccine campaign will officially start on November 2, with an information campaign also beginning then.

According to the health authorities, the first phase of the vaccine campaign will officially begin in just over two weeks time in GP surgeries, and the first group of patients to be offered the vaccine will be those under the age of 65 who suffer from chronic illness.

GPs can start administering the vaccine to the designated patient group as they start to receive batches, before the campaign formally gets under way. However, the HSE says it is likely to be two weeks before the majority of GPs have the vaccine and the vaccination campaign is officially launched.

Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan told the latest press briefing on swine flu that the updated infection rate is 97.1 per 100,000 population, compared to 88 per 100,000 reported last week.

In children aged 5-14 the rate is 170 per 100,000, compared to the previous rate of 86 per 100,000.

A total of 302 people have been hospitalised to date, an increase of 73 in the course of the last week, and 48  remained in hospital.

A little under 10% of hospitalisations are being admitted to intensive care.

According to the Department of Health, 43% of those admitted to hospital to date have an underlying illness.

Dr Holohan said the vaccine will initially be offered to those in the highest risk groups. The first group to be offered the vaccine through general practice will be the chronically-ill under 65s.

This includes those with long-term lung disease, heart disease, liver disease, diabetes, conditions such as MS  and people with reduced immunity. Women over 14 weeks pregnant will also be offered the vaccine in this initial phase.

The vaccine programme will then progress to all children, people over 65 and healthcare workers before the programme moves on to the rest of the population. The vaccine scheme will be administered by GPs and also by HSE staff.

The vaccine is free of charge, according to the HSE.

Around 1,800 GPs, according to Dr Holohan, have indicated a willingness to participate in the vaccine scheme while another 200 have sought further clarification about legal and other aspects of the scheme.

The health authorities will now start to distribute vaccines over the course of the next number of weeks.

On the IMO's seeking legal clarification about indemnity for GPs in relation to the vaccine scheme, Dr Holohan said where GPs exercise their discretion not to administer the vaccine they will be indemnified and in those circumstances they are advised advised to inform their patients of alternative GPs who can administer the vaccine.

Dr Holohan said the Department of Health and the HSE had clarified a number of legal issues to the IMO and individual GPs relating to the vaccine scheme and would continue to do so on request from individual GPs.

He said GPs would be covered, for example for the cost of representation before the Medical Council should an action be taken against them.

Dr Kevin Kelleher of the HSE said while they were looking into the provision of lists for the public of GPs providing the vaccine once the scheme begins, people are being advised to contact their GPs to inquire whether they will be offering the swine flu vaccine.

On critical care beds, Dr Holohan said that while there were sufficient ICU beds available at this stage of the pandemic, for the type of increases in in swine flu that could occur, the current number would not be sufficient.

He said in such circumstances, there would not be sufficient ICU beds in any healthcare system.

"Every healthcare system has been putting in place a plan for rapid escalation in the number of critical care beds for patients in the event of a significant increase in the number of people who require intensive care admission and we have done exactly the same.

"Our plan provides for a doubling of capacity over the period of a potential peak, were that to be required."

Dr Holohan said In a pandemic situation the health system could be under a very significant amount of stress at the peak of the illness rate.

Dr Holohan said this could happen if the numbers rose in the way that they could, to an infection rate of up to 25% of the population, although it was not definite that the pandemic would increase to that level.

For more information on swine flu from the HSE click on www.swineflu.ie

[Posted: Fri 16/10/2009]