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LONDON: Britain launched a mass vaccination programme on Wednesday to prevent the spread of H1N1 flu, following similar action in other European countries and the US where the vaccine has drawn a mixed reaction.
Seriously ill patients in hospitals and the doctors and nurses caring for them will be the first of 14 million people identified as priority cases to receive the jab in Britain, the European country hardest hit by the virus.
They will be followed by pregnant women, people with health problems, or those such as chemotherapy patients with immune systems which leave them particularly vulnerable to the H1N1 virus.
Out of an estimated 370,000 cases of H1N1 flu in Britain, 108 people with the virus have died, but the vast majority had underlying health problems.
Liam Donaldson, chief medical officer for England, urged health and social care workers to be vaccinated, in the light of figures showing that only 20 percent of such workers usually have the regular seasonal flu jab.
"It's important for frontline health and social care workers to have the vaccine," he said.
Doing so would "prevent them and their families getting the virus from patients, it will stop them passing the virus on to their patients" and "it will potentially protect them from mutated strains".
The authorities' concerns were underlined by a poll conducted by the Nursing Times trade magazine this month, revealing that only half of 1,700 respondents intend to be vaccinated.
The main reason cited was concerns over the safety of the vaccine, but Donaldson denied it had been rushed on to the market.
In Britain, people will mainly be given the Pandemrix vaccine, developed by drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline, and a single dose will give sufficient protection in most cases.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown told lawmakers that Britain had been "ahead of the world" in tackling H1N1 flu.
"It is... right to say that we have been ahead of the world in purchasing the vaccines that are necessary and ahead of the world in making sure that those people who need treatment with antivirals have it at the earliest opportunity," he said.
The spread of swine flu in Britain appears to have peaked during the summer months, but the number of new cases has started to rise again in recent weeks after children returned to school following the long holiday.
Donaldson said he was concerned about the effects on the vaccination programme of a postal strike due to take place on Thursday and Friday, which could prevent patients receiving letters telling them to receive jabs.
Countries across the world are grappling with the logistics of vaccination programmes to counter the first global pandemic in 40 years.
In the United States, health officials warned last week that deliveries of vaccine may be delayed as influenza deaths climbed above epidemic levels in most states, hitting children particularly hard.
In France, where vaccinations started on Tuesday, opinion polls show that up to 65 percent of people have no intention of having the jab.
Elsewhere in Europe, Belgium, Italy and Sweden have also started immunisation programmes.
Italian authorities said doctors were more prepared to have the H1N1 flu vaccine than the regular seasonal flu jab.
In Sweden, take-up of the vaccine is high, with between 50 and 70 percent saying they were happy to be immunised.
But in Germany, a row has broken out over accusations of a "two-tier" system under which only soldiers, policemen and key workers will be given a different vaccine from the general public, allegedly because it has fewer side effects.
The outcry has prompted Chancellor Angela Merkel herself to pledge she will have the vaccine meant for the wider public, ahead of the start of a nationwide vaccination programme next week.
H1N1 flu has killed more than 4,700 people in 191 countries and territories since it broke out in Mexico this year, according to the World Health Organisation. - AFP/de
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