Swine flu – vaccine programme begins

16 October 2009

The Health and Social Services Department (HSSD) will begin the first phase of the swine flu vaccination programme next week.

Vaccination of health care workers is scheduled to start on Tuesday 20 October. Pregnant women will be offered the vaccine at the General Hospital from Monday 26 October following invitations being sent out during next week.

Phase 1 will offer the vaccine to people who are most at risk of developing serious complications as a result of catching flu and those who may need to treat them. This group includes:

• pregnant women
• people with underlying medical conditions
• health care workers
• household contacts of patients whose medical conditions particularly compromise their immune system

Vaccine has been ordered for the whole population. Unfortunately, the worldwide demand for this scarce vaccine is so great that it may be some months before the Island receives its full quota enabling the vaccination of all Islanders. The advanced purchase agreement, arranged by Health Minister, Deputy Anne Pryke, and Chief Pharmacist Paul McCabe, has meant, however, that Jersey is among the first places to get this pandemic H1N1 2009 vaccine.

The Public Health Department will begin distributing vaccines to GPs shortly so that they can offer the vaccine to people with underlying medical conditions and compromised immune systems.

The programme is being organised by Dr Linda Diggle who is a specialist in immunisation. She said: “Eventually we will be offering the vaccine to everyone in Jersey but our initial aim is to offer it to those who are most at risk of catching the disease and developing serious complications. Health care workers are being offered the vaccine to reduce the risk of transmission from staff to patients and also from patients to staff.

"The vaccine now has a European license and I would like to reassure people of its safety. The swine flu vaccine has been produced in a very similar way to the seasonal flu vaccine, which has a good safety record stretching over decades.”

The Medical Officer of Health, Dr Rosemary Geller, said: "The swine flu vaccination programme is one of the biggest logistical challenges ever faced by HSSD. It is well worth the effort, nevertheless, as swine flu is reaching epidemic proportions in neighbouring countries such as France and we want to keep serious illness and swine flu deaths to an absolute minimum on the island. It would be unwise to underestimate this new flu virus as there have been 91 deaths to date in the UK.”