'Ineffective' flu jab blamed for biggest surge in winter deaths for 40 years
'Ineffective' flu jab blamed for biggest surge in winter deaths for 40 years
A surge in the number of deaths in winter is being blamed on an ineffective flu jab. Excess winter deaths in England and Wales reached 43,900 last year, the highest number since 1999. That was a rise of 151% on the previous winter and the biggest annual jump in more than 40 years, figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed. Claudia Wells, the head of mortality statistics at the ONS, said: "While the cold temperature is a factor, most of last winter was warmer than average. A major cause behind the rise was the flu virus, with estimates showing that the flu vaccine was not as effective this winter compared to previous years."
Many countries with colder climates than ours have far better records on cold-related deaths, showing we should be doing much better than we currently are.
Caroline Abrahams of Age UK
The term "excess" means the extra number of people who died over the winter period, defined as between December and March compared with those who died during the rest of the year. Most of those who died in 2014/15 were aged 75 or over, with underlying respiratory illness accounting for more than a third of the deaths. As in other years, more women died during the period than men, with female deaths rising from 10,250 in 2013/14 to 25,500 in 2014/15 compared with a rise from 7,210 to 18,400 for men. In part, this is because there are more older women than older men in the population.
