The Department of Health has announced they will run an advertising campaign from today in an attempt to boost flagging flu vaccination rates so far this year.
The latest uptake figures show 28.5% of patients aged under 65 in at risk groups (excluding pregnant women) have been vaccinated so far against flu compared with 32.3% for the same period last year.
By the end of October, only 48.9 % of patients over 65 years old had received a flu vaccination, compared with 54.8% for the same period in 2011/12.
They will run an advertising campaign from today encouraging people in at risk groups to get vaccinated.
Public health minister Anna Soubry said: ‘Our campaign aims to encourage people who are most at risk from flu, who have put it off or who don’t think it is important, to get the vaccine.
‘If pregnant women are vaccinated, they not only protect themselves but also protect their newborn babies from catching flu.’
