Firs House Surgery has fallen victim to the nationwide lorry driver shortage, which has led to deliveries by one of the largest flu vaccine suppliers in the UK being delayed.
As a result, efforts to offer flu jabs all over-50s and vulnerable adults in the village in preparation for a predicted winter influenza spike have suffered a temporary setback. Plans for a team of local volunteers to support surgery staff on vaccination days have also had to be revised.
The comprehensive vaccination campaign has now been pushed back from a start date of 18th September to 2nd October for adults, though the vaccination schedule for eligible children has not been affected.
Rescheduling
The surgery explained the challenge they have faced: “We have had to cancel over 1,000 booked appointments and reschedule new dates. This time-consuming work has now been completed and all patients who had booked an appointment with us have been booked into a new appointment.”
The patients who had already been given appointments will receive a text or a letter confirming a new date and time. If those aren’t convenient, they can contact the surgery to re-book. If they no longer need an appointment, they can call to cancel.
The surgery explained: “Unfortunately, due to the work involved in rescheduling our flu campaign, we no longer have the capacity to individually contact the remaining eligible patients inviting them to book in, and therefore[we] invite all eligible patients to contact the surgery and book an appointment now.”
The adult groups eligible for the flu vaccine are:
- everyone aged 50 years and over
- those aged 6 months to under 50 years in clinical risk groups
- pregnant women
- long-stay care home residents
- frontline health and social care staff
- close contacts of immunocompromised individuals
The new vaccination dates for the Histon surgery are Saturday and Sunday 2nd/3rd October, and Saturdays 9th October, 30th October and 6th November.
Anyone who previously had an adult appointment on 18th/19th September, 25th September or 16th October has been rescheduled and should have already received a text or letter confirming a new date.
Children first
Firs House’s child flu vaccines have not been affected by the supply problems and the first child flu vaccine clinics will be taking place this weekend on Saturday and Sunday 18th/19th September. After that, weekday appointments will be available in Cottenham in October.
Parents of children aged 2-3 years, or aged 2-17 with underlying health conditions, are being urged to book an appointment if they haven’t been contacted already. Children aged 4-15 years (reception to year 11) will receive their vaccine via the School Immunisations Team.
Covid boosters next
Although the government has this week announced a booster vaccination programme for Covid, how involved local surgeries will be in administering the programme is not yet known and Firs House is awaiting further guidance.
What they do know so far is that clinical trials have found giving the Covid booster and the flu vaccine together is safe, and that the booster will be given in the same order of cohorts as the first jabs, with care home residents and front-line health carers and workers being vaccinated first. While they await further guidance they will be pressing ahead to give flu vaccines to patients without delay, to offer maximum protection as soon as possible.
For contact details and additional information, please visit the practice website, here.
