Mother of all rows over flu jabs

British Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt when she blamed doctors for a shortage of the flu vaccine has triggered the mother of all rows with the British medical fraternity.

The British Medical Association is accusing the Government of moving the goalposts by expanding the definition of the at-risk groups who have priority for the flu jab after GPs had placed their orders last February and March.

It seems that a total of 14 million doses were ordered for the UK, which the health department claimed was well in excess of the number in the at-risk groups, the elderly and people with chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes, who apparently number 11 million in England.

But then in a letter on the 25th July the Government's chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, told GPs that carers of the elderly and those at risk would also qualify for the jabs.

BMA chairman Jim Johnson says there are a huge number of carers and no vaccine was ordered for them.

He says it is clearly not the GPs' fault if the Government moves the goalposts after GP's have submitted their orders.

A financial incentive had been offered to family doctors to reserve their flu vaccine stocks for the elderly and at-risk groups because they are paid £7.51 for each jab plus a sliding scale payment of up to a maximum of £3,700 if they vaccinate all eligible patients.

But no payment is made for vaccinating other groups and GPs cannot offer the vaccination privately.

Ms Hewitt sparked off a row over where the missing flu vaccine could have gone, and suggested yesterday that GPs may have been giving the vaccine to the "worried well".

But Mr Johnson says that it is unlikely they are immunising those not in the at-risk groups because they don't get paid for it.

The health department however is rejecting claims by the Conservatives that the inclusion of carers in the at-risk groups had expanded the numbers eligible for the vaccine by 5 million and said stock for at-risk groups had been increased by 27 per cent this year.