BRITAIN is facing a serious shortage of flu vaccine less than a month after ministers assured the public that it had enough supplies to inoculate everyone at risk from the virus.

After weeks of denying reports in The Times that there would be a shortage, the Department of Health was forced to write to every GP yesterday admitting that 400,000 “contingency” doses of the vaccine were nearly exhausted.

It urged doctors not to overorder any remaining vaccine, to ensure what they have in stock is used for the high-risk groups, and that if they have any spare to let others know, so that it can be shared.

“Vaccine is pretty scarce” David Salisbury, head of immunisation, at the Department of Health said yesterday. Asked if this meant that people in the high-risk categories might go unvaccinated, he said: “I sincerely hope not.”

The letter tells GPs that there is no vaccine left, with the exception of a further contingency of 200,000 doses which will not be delivered until late January.

The unprecedented demand for jabs is blamed on the fears of avian flu developing into a new pandemic that could claim tens of thousands of lives.

Although the vaccine offers no protection against such a pandemic strain, the intensive publicity has driven more people than usual to seek jabs against seasonal flu.

The suspicion is that doctors may have used up the vaccine treating the “worried well” and that as a result the over-65s and other high-risk groups may find that they are denied it.

GPs themselves are responsible for ordering flu vaccine and are only reimbursed by the Government for the actual vaccines given. GPs have to pay for any remaining stock, encouraging them not to overorder. This year, Dr Salisbury said, 14.5 million doses had been ordered, half a million more than last year.

Peter Holden, a GP from Matlock and a senior member of the Derbyshire British Medical Association’s GPs’ committee, said that he was short of 400 vaccines for his patients, who had come to get immunised in unprecedented numbers this year. “At the last count we were 400 short,” he said. “As of Friday night we had no ideas where we are getting vaccines for our clinics from December 3.”

The practice serves 8,500 patients, of whom 2,000 are eligible for flu jabs. But while most years it was hard to get more than 1,200 people interested, this year it had passed 1,500 with ease.

When Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, was pressed in the Commons last month on whether enough supplies of vaccines had been ordered, she said: “I am assured by our experts there are adequate supplies available to ensure anybody at risk can be vaccinated.” She refused to comment yesterday on the new advice to GPs.

The Times was also assured that supplies were ample. A department spokeswoman said: “There are 11 million people who are either over 65 or in the high-risk groups, so there will be enough for them all, even if we got 100 per cent take-up.” But soon after that, on November 3, GPs were sent a letter reminding them to “prioritise” the vaccine for the at-risk groups. This appears tohave been ignored, at least by some. GPs have been ringing the department seeking extra supplies.

The department has no clear idea where the vaccine has gone. Some of it will still be waiting in doctors’ surgeries to be administered, and some has yet to be delivered by the manufacturers. But data on uptake is still scant.

“From the audit that we have undertaken, there is some concern that the vaccine may have been used on the ‘worried well’ rather than the pre-agreed risk groups and that this has contributed to the shortfall,” Dr Salisbury’s letter says.

Laurence Buckman, deputy chairman of the BMA’s GPs Committee, said: “Patients will feel that they have been let down. The flu campaign is designed to protect the old and the sick in advance of the flu season. GPs were told that there would be enough vaccine and now it seems this is not the case. There is no evidence that family doctors have been using the vaccine inappropriately.”

Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary, said: “Ministers have unfortunately failed to recognise the risk sufficiently, which has led to the current situation.”

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