Pensioners will be urged to have a vital jab later this year to save them from potentially lethal flu.
Health experts in Oxfordshire have begun planning their biggest vaccination programme to make sure more people are given the injection.
Last year, a record 70,000 people were vaccinated in Oxfordshire and this year the figure could double after the Government announced the jab should be available to over-65s, as well as over-75s. Currently, only 56 per cent of over-75s take up the chance to have the injection, which can save them from a bout of flu during cold weather.
Judith Moreton, Oxfordshire Health Authority immunisation co-ordinator said: "Even in years when little influenza is circulating, 4,000 to 6,000 deaths occur nationally each winter, mainly in the elderly. They are preventable by a simple visit to a GP." For the first time the vaccination will also be offered to people with chronic respiratory disease, including asthma and chronic heart disease.
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