Flu vaccine delays put clinics in Suffolk at risk of cancellation
Vaccine suppliers Seqirus say they've been dealing with 'logistical difficulties'
Last updated 9th Sep 2021
A delay in the delivery of flu vaccines has caused concern about some disruption to flu jab clinics in Suffolk. It comes ahead of flu season in England, which starts in October.
Seqirus is one of the largest influenza vaccine distributors in the country. They explained that they've been struggling with delays due to 'logistical difficulties' and that it will not take more than 1 or 2 weeks for the issue to be resolved.
Stowhealth GP, based in Stowmarket, originally had to cancel a walk-in flu clinic for over-65s this weekend after their suppliers Seqirus informed them of a possible delay on delivery.
They have since had a delivery of vaccines and are now able to go ahead with this weekend's clinic.
Wendy Denny is the practice operations manager at the surgery. She told us they received an email from Seqirus last Friday saying that there would be a delay in the arrival of the required vaccine doses.
Ms Denny told us how other GPs who may have organised appointment based flu clinics may also have had to call their patients and inform them of cancellations. She estimated that many thousands of appointments could have to be cancelled as a result of a hold-up.
Cancelling and then rescheduling clinics poses real operational difficulties for these GPs.
Ms. Denny explains: " We decided to do it over the weekend purely to manage the staff workload".
Her practice plans to run multiple clinics over the next few weeks and any delays in their operation throws a spanner in the works in terms of managing shifts for nurses and other staff involved in the process.
GPs are already struggling to manage caseloads following the easing of lockdown restrictions allowing patients to return for routine procedures. This has also been compounded by an acute shortage of blood-test bottles, with GPs requesting patients to order blood tests only in case of emergencies.