THOUSANDS of East Lancashire schoolchildren are to be offered life-saving flu vaccinations on the NHS for the first time.

Around 24,000 year seven and eight pupils, aged 11 to 13, will be given free nasal spray vaccines as part of a county-wide pilot scheme.

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Earlier this month 12-year-old Olivia Diamond died four days after falling ill with the flu when the infection weakened her heart.

Lancashire Telegraph:

Her mother Angela has welcomed the immunisation programme but is calling for the vaccine to be made compulsory for all children.

It also comes as East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust launches its own vaccination campaign to ensure more than three-quarters of staff receive the flu jab.

A successful uptake would secure extra government funds that are only made available to trusts that meet the target.

Nationally the virus kills around 8,000 people a year, according to Public Health England. Currently, only children aged two, three and four, the over-65s, people with long-term health problems, and pregnant women are offered a free vaccine.

If the Lancashire pilot is a success it could lead to all children between the ages of two and 16 being offered the vaccine, the NHS said.

Pearl Greenwood, immunisation team leader at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The pilot scheme makes use of innovative advances in the delivery of the flu vaccine by using a nasal spray rather than an injection.

“As some children have a fear of injections, being able to provide the vaccine without the use of a needle will enable us to protect children from flu and avoid any unnecessary distress to hopefully make the process easier for the child involved.

“Providing the nasal spray vaccine in schools will help us to understand how best to vaccinate a large number of children in a short period of time and help protect them from what can be a very nasty illness.

“This in turn helps protect not only the children, but also their family, friends and local community by reducing the risk of the virus spreading. Parents and carers of pupils taking part in the pilot will receive consent forms to sign and return to school along with information about the flu vaccine.”

It will be the first time children in year seven and eight will be offered the flu vaccine, which has developed from a 2014 programme which saw children aged four to 10 vaccinated in a small number of pilot areas in England.

The aim of the pilot is to help find the best way to reach a maximum number of children for immunisation.

Lancashire Telegraph’s health expert Dr Tom Smith led flu research in Britain from 1970 to 1977, and was responsible for reporting to the Committee of Safety of Medicines all the flu deaths in Britain during that period.

He said one of the biggest risks was that flu could lead to myocarditis, the condition which led to Olivia’s death.

The problem, which varies in severity, causes heart muscles to inflame and is usually caused by a virus.

Dr Smith said: “We don’t know why some children are susceptible in this way. It’s a very, very small number but each one is a tragedy, and is one of the reasons we have started to vaccinate children against the flu.”

Olivia’s schoolfriends at Accrington Academy began receiving their vaccinations on Monday as part of the pilot, the school said.

The vaccine pilot for four to 11-year-old children was carried out in Bury, Cumbria, Gateshead, Leicester, East Leicestershire and Rutland, and the London boroughs of Havering and Newham, and South East Essex.

A total of 52.5 per cent of eligible children had the vaccine, with ‘encouraging results’, Public Health England said.