Swine Flu | Digital Crosstalk

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Brian and team, who work for a digital marketing agency run this Digital Crosstalk blog.
Occasionally we might blog about companies and people we work with but for the most part we'll simply be blogging about stories and events which we find interesting.

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13th
JUL

UK to Vaccinate Entire Population against Swine Flu

Posted by Brian | Filed under tourism

: Image by Dan Queiroz via Flickr

A report in Sunday’s Independent newspaper suggested that the UK government are preparing to vaccinate the entire population against swine flu in what would constitute the largest vaccination program to have occurred in the last 50 years.

The report claimed that experts had already drawn up a priority ‘hitist’ of patients to receive vaccinations before the bug becomes even more virulent. The UK alone has seen over 7,500 cases of the disease, while the global number of infection is close to 100,000 while 429 deaths have occurred worldwide.

The government has moved from its strategy of ‘containment’ to one of ‘treatment’ and health secretary Andy Burnham has said that contingency planners had estimated that reported cases of swine flu in the UK could reach 100,000 by the end of August if the current rate of reported cases stays constant.

As the UK enters holiday season, holidaymakers have been advised to check their travel insurance policies, as according to ABTA some insurers have placed exemptions against swine flu on policies, so if people need to cancel because of the virus, they may not be covered as a result.

For the latest information on swine flu, travellers are advised to check regularly on their choice of destination for travel advice via the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website, while those who contract the virus should seek advice from their GP about whether to travel or stay at home.

The NHS advises anyone who thinks they might have flu to check their symptoms on http://www.nhs.uk or call the swine flu information line on 0800 1 513 513.