§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list for each health authority(a) the number of people eligible for the flu vaccine, (b) the number of shots 885W of vaccine available, (c) whether it has reported a shortage in supply and (d) the take-up of vaccine to date. [135153]
§ Yvette Cooper[holding answer 30 October 2000]: The number of people over 65 eligible for flu vaccine is shown in table 1. The number of shots of vaccine available to each health authority is not held centrally. Health authorities are currently collating the latest information on uptake rates so far to submit to the Department and we will release these figures in due course.
General practitioners order their supply of flu vaccine direct from manufacturers. This year there are five suppliers of flu vaccine. Unfortunately one of the manufacturers, Solvay, has encountered problems in growing a strain of the vaccine which has led to delays in some deliveries. Solvay have been in touch with the affected GPs to tell them details of any delays, but have confirmed that all ordered vaccine will be delivered by the end of November, in time to protect people this winter. Table 2 shows the main health authorities affected, all of which will receive the full supplies by the end of November.
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Table 1: Health authority flu uptake rates as at 31 October Region/HA Number of 65 and over per HA1 Eastern Bedfordshire 72,759 Cambridgeshire 102,828 East and North Hertfordshire 74,134 Norfolk 155,515 North Essex 150,827 South Essex 113,328 Suffolk 118,562 West Hertfordshire 80,437 Northern and Yorkshire Bradford 68,842 Calderdale and Kirklees 86,578 County Durham 98,024 East Riding 95,057 Gateshead and South Tyneside 60,662 Leeds 109,718 Newcastle and North Tyneside 77,097 North Cumbria 55,690 North Yorkshire 133,554 Northumberland 52,840 Sunderland 44,378 Tees 82,885 Wakefield 46,803 South East Berkshire 99,821 Buckinghamshire 87,158 East Kent 117,048 East Surrey 71,266 East Sussex, Brighton/Hove 155,188 Isle of Wight 29,008 North and Mid Hampshire 74,982 Northamptonshire 87,515 Oxfordshire 85,950 Portsmouth and South East Hampshire 89,786 Southampton and South West Hampshire 92,134 West Kent 142,844 West Surrey 99,662 West Sussex 151,876
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Table 1: Health authority flu uptake rates as at 31 October Region/HA Number of 65 and over per HA1 North West Bury and Rochdale 55,189 East Lancashire 75,668 Liverpool 66,656 Manchester 55,442 Morecambe Bay 56,851 North Cheshire 42,415 North West Lancashire 87,998 Salford and Trafford 70,525 Sefton 54,453 South Cheshire 109,557 South Lancashire 46,398 St. Helen's and Knowsley 48,286 Stockport 47,797 West Pennine 66,737 Wigan and Bolton 82,301 Wirral 57,312 London Barking and Havering 63,319 Barnet 45,446 Bexley and Greenwich 61,926 Brent and Harrow 56,405 Bromley 50,246 Camden and Islington 43,475 Croydon 42,466 Ealing, Hammersmith, Hounslow 76,641 East London and City 63,468 Enfield and Haringey 60,214 Hillingdon 34,408 Kensington, Chelsea, West 46,953 Kingston and Richmond 46,165 Lambeth, Southwark and Lew 84,388 Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth 79,603 Redbridge and Waltham Forest 59,525 South West Avon 160,918 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 98,842 Dorset 150,916 Gloucestershire 96,867 North and East Devon 99,794 Somerset 95,242 South and West Devon 114,099 Wiltshire 93,707 Trent Barnsley 36,067 Doncaster 45,779 Leicestershire 138,709 Lincolnshire 119,534 North Derbyshire 64,172 North Nottinghamshire 63,871 Nottingham 99,105 Rotherham 38,682 Sheffield 85,312 Southern Derbyshire 89,391 South Humber 51,099 West Midlands Birmingham 145,501 Coventry 46,559 Dudley 50,031 Herefordshire 32,279 North Staffordshire 76,207 Sandwell 45,996 Shropshire 69,229 Solihull 33,045
Table 1: Health authority flu uptake rates as at 31 October Region/HA Number of 65 and over per HA1 South Staffordshire 87,173 Walsall 41,455 Warwickshire 80,244 Wolverhampton 39,636 Worcester 88,251 Grand total—England 7,780,879 1Population data taken from mid-year resident population estimates for 1999 by health authorities, for 65 and over Note:
Uptake data taken from flu co-ordinators monitoring returns
Table 2: Health authorities reporting vaccine supply problems Region Health authority Northern and Yorkshire Region North Cumbria South East Region East Sussex, Brighton/Hove North West Region Salford and Trafford London Brent and Harrow Croydon East London and City Hillingdon Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster West Midlands Walsall