England’s chief medical officer has urged all frontline health and social-care workers to get themselves vaccinated against swine flu.
Sir Liam Donaldson (pictured) was speaking as the first pandemic immunisation programme gets under way, starting with groups classified as priority or at risk.
He says: “I urge everyone in the priority groups – including frontline health and social-care workers – to have the vaccine. It will help prevent people in clinical risk groups from getting swine flu, and the complications that may arise from that.”
Meanwhile, Professor Stephen Field, President of the Royal College of General Practitioners, has condemned the planned postal strike as “extremely unhelpful”, because doctors usually contact patients by letter.
He says: “In the short term – if it’s only for a day or two – we will manage, but we won’t be able to get to people consistently. This will mess up the system, because we are planning to bring people in in sequence.”
Copyright © Press Association 2009
