NHS Choices has produced an assessment of press reports that pregnant women and other vulnerable people are refusing to have the swine flu vaccine.

These news reports are based on two articles in Pulse, one on overall uptake based on a “snapshot” survey of GPs and the other, on uptake in pregnant women. Pulse surveyed 107 GPs, asking them whether they felt they would achieve the Government target in their practice of vaccinating at least half of their patients who are under 65 and in high-risk groups this winter, and the estimated vaccine uptake in their practice. The survey found that only 37% of GPs believed that their practice could achieve the government’s target, based on their experience so far. Just over half said they would not hit the target, and 10% said it was too early for them to say. The reasons given by GPs for not hitting the target are a low uptake of the vaccine by those who were offered it, and delays in receiving vaccine supplies. Just over half the practices had started the vaccination campaign, and these practices estimated that less than half the people offered the vaccine had accepted it. In the article on vaccine uptake in pregnant women, one GP estimated that only 5% of pregnant women at the practice had agreed to be vaccinated, while another GP estimated that this figure was less than 25%. Other GPs stated that there was scepticism about the vaccine among their pregnant patients.

The assessment addresses the following questions:

• Do these findings represent all GPs?

• What are the problems with supply?

• What reasons were given for rejecting the vaccine?

• Are the vaccines safe?

• Does the vaccine have any side effects?

• Who should be vaccinated and why?

• Why is it important for pregnant women to be vaccinated?

The overall conclusion of the assessment is that “it is not clear if the experiences of this relatively small sample of GPs can be viewed as representative of the 30,000 other GPs in the UK. This picture of overall uptake is based purely on these 107 GPs’ estimates. It is also possible that these GPs chose to take part in the survey themselves, and GPs who chose not to take part may have a different experience of vaccine uptake. Based on this survey, it can’t be assumed that there is similar vaccine uptake nationwide or that particular groups such as pregnant women, are more likely to reject the vaccine.”