Swine flu vaccine offered to 11 million

The swine flu (H1N1) vaccine is to be rolled out from today, starting with healthcare workers and their patients.

The most vulnerable groups will be top of the list for the vaccination, with GP surgeries receiving deliveries of the vaccination on Monday.

Two million frontline health and social care workers will be the first to be offered the vaccine, which the government has said is vital to help the NHS workforce remain resilient against H1N1.

The government said the following groups would then be offered the vaccination:

People aged over six months and under 65 years in current seasonal flu vaccine clinical at risk groups (about five million people)

All pregnant women (about 0.5 million people)

Household contacts of people with compromised immune systems eg people in regular close contact with patients on treatment for cancer (about 0.5 million people)

People aged 65 and over in the current seasonal flu vaccine clinical at risk groups (about 3.5 million people). This does not include otherwise healthy over 65s, since they appear to have some natural immunity to the virus.

Health secretary Andy Burnham, said: 'Our best line of defence against swine flu is the vaccine. I'm very pleased to say that the UK is one of the first countries in the world to start vaccinating against this virus.'

The government said GPs would be contacting those who fall into the 'at risk' category. The GSK vaccine (Pandemrix) has been approved by European regulators and most people are only expected to need one dose.

'This is the first pandemic for which we have had vaccine to protect people. I urge everyone in the priority groups to have the vaccine – it will help prevent people in clinical risk groups from getting swine flu and the complications that may arise from it,' Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, explained.

'It's important for frontline health and social care workers to have the vaccine. It will help prevent them and their families getting the virus from patients, it will stop them passing the virus onto their patients, it will potentially protect them from mutated strains and it will reduce the disruption to NHS services caused by people being absent due to illness.'