Influenza - flu - is a highly infectious and potentially serious illness caused by influenza viruses. Each year the make-up of the flu vaccine is designed to protect against the influenza viruses that the World Health Organization decide are most likely to be circulating in the coming winter. This page contains further information for health professionals on flu vaccine.
Seasonal flu communications campaign information 2009
The annual seasonal flu immunisation campaign aims to encourage take-up of the vaccine by everyone aged 65 or over, and by younger people in clinically at-risk groups. These groups were specified in the Chief Medical Officer’s annual letter, The Influenza Immunisation Programme 2009/10, which was sent out on 6 April 2009.
Local information pack for the 2008 campaign, including
Flu vaccine uptake data collection guidance for 2009/10
For those of you busy planning this year's flu immunisation programme and working with your local GP practices, you may find it helpful to refer them to the list of Read Codes that identify patients in at-risk groups who are recommended flu vaccination. As well as available via the information portal on the Health Protection Informatics (HPI) website, they can now be accessed here. The Read Codes in the PRIMIS+ document have been prepared primarily for data collection purposes but can also be used to identify patients who should be offered flu vaccination. It should be noted that there may be individuals who fall outside the Read Code specifications (either due to omissions in the dataset or because of an patient's individual clinical need) but who should be considered for vaccination.
Vaccine uptake data - 2008/2009
Provisional flu vaccine uptake 2007/08 and previous years
Clinical risk groups - read codes prepared by PRIMIS+
The Read Codes in the PRIMIS+ document have benn prepared primarily for data collection purposes but can also be used to identify patients who should be offered flu vaccination. It should be noted that there may be individuals who fall outside the read code specifications (either due to omissions in the dataset or becauuse of a patient's individual clinical need) but who should be considered for vaccination.
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