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All of Britain to be vaccinated for H1N1

Posted on: Sunday, 12 July 2009, 12:05 CDT

Britain plans to vaccinate its entire population against the H1N1 virus, with as many as 20 million people being inoculated this year, health officials said.

Details of the plan emerged Saturday after health officials in Essex reported the virus had killed a middle-age man -- the first healthy British patient to die from the disease.

The other 14 who have died from the virus in Britain this year had underlying health problems, The Times of London reported Sunday.

A new vaccine expected to arrive in Britain within weeks likely would be given to children, front-line health workers, people with underlying illnesses and the elderly before being given to the rest of Britain's population, The Sunday Telegraph reported.

If this virus does (mutate), it can get a lot more nasty, and the idea is to give people immunity. But the sheer logistics of dealing with 60 million people can't be underestimated, Peter Holden, a spokesman for the British Medical Association said, referring to the total population in the United Kingdom.

Source: United Press International

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