The Government was today accused of "comprehensive bungling", by failing to order enough flu vaccine in advance.

Michael Howard, in his penultimate performance as the Tory leader at Prime Minister's Questions, accused the Health Secretary and the Department of Health of causing the shortage of flu vaccine by their own incompetence.

Despite warnings of the possibility of a flu pandemic, the Government had ordered only 14 million doses of the vaccine - the same amount as last year, he said.

Mr Howard said that the health department had then compounded the offence by claiming that it had made a good contingency provision, with 14 million doses intended to vaccinate 11 million people in England at special risk from flu because of age or illness.

In fact, he said, the Department of Health was forced to admit this morning that the 14 million doses of vaccine were intended to include Scotland and Wales, where there are a total of 13.2 million people entitled to free flu jabs.

"Is it any wonder that GPs and others are in despair at the inefficiency and incompetence of the Department of Health and the Secretary of State?" demanded Mr Howard.

If the health department could so comprehensively bungle the routine administration of the seasonal flu vaccine, he added, there were doubts whether it could cope with managing an epidemic of bird flu.

In a statement to the Commons yesterday, the Health Secretary appeared to blame GPs for causing the vaccine shortage by giving the jab to the "worried well".

Mr Howard said that this was unfair, and that the Goverment should take responsibility for the shortages itself.

But Tony Blair replied that the Government had taken reasonable precautions, and had reacted when it noticed the shortfall.

"Following normal practice which has been the case since the year 2000/2001, there has been a meeting with the vaccine industry group and they worked out what number of doses would be needed for the year," the Prime Minister said.

"The biggest take-up [of flu jabs by the people in the at-risk group] that there has ever been is 70 per cent.

"There should have been easily enough to cope... and there should have been a surplus of about two million. They did build in a big contingency. People thought it would be enough to cover any eventuality.

"It was at the end of October that it appeared that that was not the case, and as a result the Department ordered an extra 200,000 doses."

Demand for flu vaccine has grown amid fears that increased outbreaks of avian flu in south east Asia could spark a flu pandemic - despite the fact that the seasonal flu jab offers no protection against pandemic flu.

Yesterday Ms Hewitt told the Commons that the DoH was urgently reviewing the way in which winter flu jabs are ordered by GPs in light of unexpected shortages of vaccine in some areas.

The Health Secretary told MPs: "The current problems may be due to a combination of factors, such as under-ordering of vaccine on the one hand, and possibly vaccination of the ‘worried well’ on the other.

"Awareness may also be higher this year due in part to the very high level of media interest in the threat of avian flu in birds and of pandemic flu.

The British Medical Association has insisted that there is no evidence that GPs are giving the jab to those not eligible for flu vaccination.

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