General Practice

Influenza - Vaccinations

General information

Influenza vaccination is an effective, safe and well-tolerated method of preventing or reducing the impact of influenza infection and is specifically recommended for people who are at higher risk of developing serious complications.

The Scottish Government currently recommends offering influenza vaccinations to the following groups:

All those aged 65 years and over
All patients aged 6 months to 65 years in the following high risk groups:
- Chronic respiratory disease, including asthma (if requiring continuous or repeated use of medication)
- Chronic heart disease
- Chronic renal disease
- Chronic liver disease
- Diabetes mellitus (including these controlling their condition by diet alone)
- Immunosuppression
- Chronic neurological disease (cerebrovascular disease – principally stroke and transient ischaemic attacks or TIAs – multiple sclerosis and related conditions, and hereditary and degenerative disease of the central nervous system) –new for 2007/08
Those living in long-stay residential and nursing homes or other long-stay facilities
Carers
Poultry workers

More information regarding vaccination policy can be found in the annual letter to NHS Scotland organisations from Scotland’s Chief Medical, Nursing and Pharmaceutical Officers, available from the Scottish Government (previously Scottish Executive) website; for 2004/05, 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08 and for the coming season 2008/09.

The following pages give more information on vaccination uptake (sourced from Practitioner Services Division and Health Protection Scotland) and show the number of vaccine doses dispensed in the community across Scotland (sourced from the Prescribing Information System, ISD Scotland) and the estimated patient contact rates for flu vaccination for the different clinical disciplines within general practices based on Practice Team Information (PTI).