Scots ‘not asked for spare jabs’

The Scottish government has an emergency pot of flu vaccines

Scotland says it was never asked by England for some of its spare flu vaccines, despite the shortfall south of the border.

England’s Department of Health scoured Europe for jabs after some areas ran out before deciding to use old stocks left over from the pandemic.

But it has now emerged the Scottish government has “plenty” left after ordering an emergency supply in case its own GPs ran out.

It said it would have tried to help.

A spokeswoman said: “We would always consider helping England in any way appropriate should a request be made, while our priority has to be public health in Scotland which is what we have planned for.”

In England, GPs order flu vaccines direct from manufacturers.

In Scotland, pharmacists order on behalf of GPs, but the government also gets in extra itself for a contingency pot. There are thought to be tens of thousands of doses in that stockpile.

Instead of turning to Scotland, which has reported no vaccine shortages, English health officials have spent time this week asking suppliers whether there are any available vaccines in Europe.

But with little on offer, they took the decision on Thursday to let GPs who have run out access the 12m stockpile of vaccine left over from 2009.

It is still in date, but only protects against the swine flu strain, just one of three circulating this winter albeit the dominant one.

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