LONDON (AP) – One of Britain’s leading providers of seasonal flu vaccine warned Saturday that deliveries could experience delays of up to two weeks as a result of a lack of carriers.
In a statement that has stoked concerns about the possible magnitude of this winter’s flu outbreak, Seqirus blamed the change in delivery in England and Wales on “unforeseen challenges related to delays in the transport of goods by road.”
The vaccine manufacturer noted that it is “working hard to resolve the delay and allow customers to reschedule their flu vaccination appointments.”
Although the severity of flu outbreaks varies each year, there are concerns that the lockdowns enacted last year to combat the coronavirus pandemic could make residents of Britain more susceptible to contracting it in the coming months.
“Clearly, flu immunization is really important this year, and the reason it’s so important is because because of the quarantines we had very low flu circulation levels last winter,” said Anthony Harnden, professor at the Oxford University and Vice Chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, which advises the British government on the vaccination campaign.
“We know that when there is a low flu circulation the previous year, there are often higher infection rates the following year, so it is quite possible that we will have a high incidence of influenza this year,” Harnden explained to the BBC.
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