NI only part of UK facing flu vaccine shortage

The Public Health Agency (PHA) revealed on Monday that it had moved to “pause” flu vaccinations for those aged under 65 due to a shortage of stock.

The agency’s head of public protection Dr Gerry Waldron today said in a radio interview that stocks are also low for those aged over 65.

Supplies of the vaccine are now being limited for the over-65 age group.

An organisation representing doctors has said Northern Ireland appears to be the only part of the UK affected.

The chair of the British Medical Association’s Northern Ireland general practitioners committee Dr Alan Stout, meanwhile, said the shortage is not being replicated elsewhere in the UK.

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster this morning, Dr Stout said that while Northern Ireland’s supply of flu vaccine is sourced from a UK-wide system, other parts of the UK have not yet been affected.

“It is apparent that the same notice hasn’t been given in England or Scotland, and we are dependent on a UK supply,” he said.

“We’re not entirely sure why this is specifically affecting Northern Ireland at this point. It may well affect the other countries at a later point.”

He continued: “I linked in with my English, Scottish and Welsh counterparts and none of them have been notified of a similar shortage.

“That’s not to say that there isn’t a similar shortage but none of them have been notified.

“What I do know is that our ordering mechanisms are slightly different.”

Dr Waldron said that while stocks of the vaccine designated for those aged over 65 are low there is enough “to keep us going until the middle of November when we have further supplies coming”.

On Monday, he said stocks would be available before the flu virus is expected to be “widely circulating”.