One flu over the cuckoo's nest

UK health officials have admitted that stocks of the winter flu vaccine are running low. While panic about a non-existent flu pandemic continues, many people will now not be protected against existing strains of the disease.

It seems that GPs and the Department of Health have been caught out by extra demand created by all the discussion about bird flu. Peter Holden, a GP from Derbyshire, told The Times: 'At the last count, we were 400 short. As of Friday night, we had no idea where we are getting vaccines for our clinics from December 3.' This is despite assurances last month from health secretary Patricia Hewitt that stocks were plentiful.

The irony of this rush to be vaccinated is that the current vaccine offers no protection against any future pandemic strain, were it ever to emerge. But the shortages do mean that many of those who ideally would be vaccinated - the elderly, or those with long-term health conditions, who are most at risk from influenza complications - will now not get that extra protection. The problem isn't entirely due to the fuss about bird flu. It has been compounded by the ordering system in place for flu vaccine, which encourages GPs to be very conservative in their ordering and leaves little slack in the system for unusual demand. Nonetheless, in the short term at least, the consequences of the irrational hype about bird flu will be worse than bird flu itself.

Flu jab runs out, The Times (London), 22 November 2005