Children are being targeted in an urgent NHS vaccination drive to slow the spread of the flu epidemic before Christmas.
The so-called ‘super-flu’ has spread rapidly among schoolchildren, but only one in four has taken up the free vaccines.
Positive tests in the five to 14 age group are higher than in any other demographic, UK Health Security Agency figures show.
Some schools have closed to impose a ‘firebreak’ on the spread of the H3N2 flu virus, also known as subclade K.
Now health officials fear children and teenagers could pass it on to elderly relatives at Christmas unless they can be vaccinated before the end of term.
NHS England will encourage last-minute uptake of the nasal spray or jab by contacting staff and parents and making snap visits to schools with low vaccination rates.
Ministers have also been urged to offer the vaccine free to teaching and support staff in England. This is to make sure schools can reopen in the New Year.
Meanwhile, hospitals, GPs and ambulance services are bracing themselves for the impact of soaring cases with no sign of a slowdown in infection rates.
Children are being targeted in an urgent NHS vaccination drive to slow the spread of the flu epidemic before Christmas (file image)
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has also urged parents to keep their children off school if they show symptoms.
The highest hospitalisation rates have been recorded in the North East and Yorkshire and the number of patients in hospital in England with flu is the highest on record at this point in the year.
It is more than 50 per cent higher than this time last year – and 10 times higher than in 2023.
About 95 per cent of hospital beds are already occupied.
NHS national medical director Professor Meghana Pandit called the outbreak ‘an unprecedented wave of super-flu’ and said the peak is ‘not yet in sight’.
Free flu vaccinations are offered to all frontline health workers including doctors and nurses but NHS data shows that only 43.2 per cent have taken them up this year.
And as hospitals deal with the crisis, Sir Keir Starmer warned resident doctors considering strike action on December 17 that they would be ‘reckless’ and ‘endanger lives’.
He said: ‘They place the NHS and patients who need it in grave danger. The super-flu epidemic now sweeping the country means this is the NHS’s most precarious moment since the pandemic. The idea that strikes could still take place in this context is frankly beyond belief.’
The British Medical Association is asking resident doctors this weekend if they wish to strike using an online survey which closes tomorrow
The British Medical Association is asking resident doctors this weekend if they wish to strike using an online survey which closes tomorrow.
The Government has offered them a deal which includes reimbursing training and exam fees – with the latter backdated to April.
Many young doctors complain there are no specialist jobs to go to after they finish their foundationtraining. So the Government is offering about 4,000 more specialty places for them in trusts.
Referring to the deal, Sir Keir said: ‘My message to the doctors is simple: take it.’ Resident doctors have already received a 28.9 per cent pay rise – the highest in the public sector.
