| Reprinted
from the Daily Telegraph 22nd January 2011
Doctors
ordered to stop giving flu jabs to children
Health officials have ordered doctors to shelve a vaccination programme
which was under way to protect children from swine flu.
Government policy says healthy children should not be given the flu
jab
By Laura Donnelly, Health Correspondent 16 Jan 2011
Doctors in north-west England began giving jabs to healthy schoolchildren
earlier this month, after senior medics decided that stocks of vaccine
should be used to prevent the spread of disease among the young.
The decision, taken by Bury Primary Care Trust (PCT), came 11 days
ago, following more than a dozen deaths in Greater Manchester, including
three in Bury, as well as that of three-year-old Lana Ameen, who died
on Boxing Day soon after falling ill in nearby Stockport.
Parents were told that their children would be offered the jabs, and
hundreds of pupils at two schools in Bury, Derby High School and Prestwich
Arts College, were given the vaccine.
But on Tuesday, bosses at North West Strategic Health Authority (SHA)
ordered doctors and nurses to stop providing the jabs – and now
hundreds more families have been informed that their children will not
be offered protection after all.
Local doctors say the change of plan – to bring the area in line
with official Government restrictions – has left parents feeling
fearful and anxious.
Government policy says that while pregnant women, the elderly, and
those with health problems are supposed to be offered the vaccine, healthy
children should not be given it, despite high incidence of flu among
the young this winter.
With rising numbers of deaths among children, the Government policy
is under increasing attack.
Dr Peter Elton, director of public health for Bury PCT, had ordered
the vaccination of children, starting with five schools, after considering
research in medical journal The Lancet, which showed particular risks
of flu complications among ethnic minorities.
He said that the programme was sensible, because "stopping just
one child from needing intensive care treatment more than pays for vaccinating
the whole school".
The decision, taken at a meeting of the PCT on January 5, had been
backed by local doctors.
The PCT now says it changed its stance last week "based on further
advice received from the SHA".
Dr Rakesh Thakker, a local GP, said the move by the SHA to block the
vaccinations had left parents anxious.
He said: "I was involved in the decision to vaccinate healthy
children – we thought it was in the best interests of our local
population.
"It is difficult when that decision gets overruled – the
change of plan has caused significant problems and concerns among parents,
who don't know what to think."
On Friday, the father of Lana Ameen, who died aged three after falling
ill in nearby Stockport, spoke of his grief and fury over the Government's
refusal to vaccinate children.
Dr Zana Ameen, an NHS doctor, had sought the jab for his young daughter,
but had been told she was not eligible. She died on Boxing Day, after
falling ill while the family visited relatives.
He said: "As a doctor, I can't think of any medical reasons not
to make it available to young children. The only possible reason can
be saving money."
Last winter, children under the age of five were offered the swine
flu jab, but this season, Government advisers said children should only
be vaccinated if they had health problems, refusing to change the advice
even as flu reached epidemic levels among young children.
Documents have shown that last January, a majority of a committee of
scientists advising the Government on the vaccination programme thought
children should be included in the programme, yet inexplicably changed
their mind weeks later.
As flu rates among young children soared, the group held emergency
talks two weeks ago but decided that there would be insufficient "gain",
as rates of flu were likely to fall soon.
Figures published on Thursday show the number of flu deaths has doubled
in a week, up from 50 to 112.
Influenza experts said they had "a lot of sympathy" with
angry and anxious parents who have been trawling private clinics, and
even going abroad in search of vaccines.
On parenting website Mumsnet, mothers described desperate attempts
to find centres which would give the jab, with some private clinics
charging more than £200 for it.
Others said they had used family trips to France and Switzerland to
have their children immunised, while several mothers of young children
said they were keeping them away from school and nursery because of
their concerns.
Prof John Oxford, a flu expert at Queen Mary, University of London,
said: "I have a lot of sympathy for parents in this situation,
I can see why they would be anxious."
He said that he felt "uneasy" about the Government approach
to the flu outbreak, and that it appeared to be "stumbling"
into decisions, such as the late move to launch a national advertising
campaign last month, and Friday's decision to use old stocks of swine
flu vaccine to plug shortages of seasonal jabs.
Microbiologist Prof Hugh Pennington said he was "very disappointed"
by the decision not to offer the jab to children, contrasting advice
in this country with that in the US where it is routinely given.
He said: "Some babies have already died from swine flu this winter,
and undoubtedly there will be more deaths – the numbers are small,
but these deaths are preventable."
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