Vaccine decision due 'in weeks'

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Ministers across the UK will decide jointly within weeks which groups will be first in line for the swine flu jab, the Scottish health secretary has said.

Nicola Sturgeon told BBC Radio Scotland no final decision had yet been made, but that she expected an agreement to be reached in the next couple of weeks.

She said preparations were in place for a second wave of the virus.

A government health adviser has said the number of cases is expected to rise steadily after the school term begins.

Ms Sturgeon said the UK, including Scotland, had already secured supplies that would cover 100% of the population, and when these became available it had to go through safety checks.

Summer hiatus

"We've always said that we wanted to get supplies of the vaccine as quickly as they were available, and start vaccinate priority groups as soon as we can - that remains our approach," she told the Good Morning Scotland programme.

"But we also have to make sure that we're preparing in other ways, for example when the schools go back on Monday we'll be asking them to undertake campaigns around hand hygiene and respiratory hygiene.

"So we continue to plan in a range of ways to make sure that we're as well equipped as we can be for a second wave, should that happen."

Dr Jim McMenimin, from Health Protection Scotland, said there was usually a summer hiatus in the number of people with seasonal flu.

The government adviser said: "When people are outdoors, the schools are closed and there's a lot more social mixing outdoors, as a consequence we see a reduction in the transmission of respiratory agents."

He said the uncertainty was when the peak would occur after the summer.