Cheap jab ‘has made f lu outbreak worse’

THE flu crisis has been more severe because GPs were told to use a less effective jab, experts claimed yesterday.

Doctors were strongly encouraged by health trusts to give patients a vaccine that targeted only three strains of flu.

A jab that protected against four strains was available – but was almost £3 a head dearer.

The strain not covered by the cheaper vaccine has been one of the most dominant in circulation this winter. According to research by Public Health England, the ‘B-Yamagata’ variant has caused about a third of cases.

Flu rates are at their highest since 2011 and figures this afternoon are expected to show a further spike.

The outbreak is putting a huge strain on the NHS and has led to 85 deaths in England since autumn.

Dr Nick Scriven, president of the Society of Acute Medicine, said the more effective jab would have prevented hundreds of hospital admissions. Professor Jonathan Ball, an expert in molecular virology at Nottingham University, said: ‘The strain of influenza that we’re seeing cropping up isn’t covered by the trivalent vaccine. Common sense would suggest that if you don’t have that strain covered in the vaccine then the vaccine won’t protect as much.’

The other strains include H3N2, which has become known as Aussie flu and H1N1, also referred to as swine flu. The four- strain vaccine costs £8 a dose. The threestrain jab is £5.25.

Documents uncovered by the Health Service Journal show that last year health officials and trusts encouraged GPs to order cheaper jabs. NHS England told doctors the more effective vaccine would ‘add significant cost pressures’.