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Winter Deaths Surge Blamed On Flu Jab Issues

Winter Deaths Surge Blamed On Flu Jab Issues

A hugh rise in deaths over the winter period is being partly blamed on a flu jab that was not fully effective.

Excess winter deaths in England and Wales reached 43,900 last year, the highest number since 1999.

That represented 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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

Part of this was put down to the fact that there are more older women than older men in the population.

There was also a record high at 9,100 extra deaths from people suffering from dementia and Alzheimer's.

More people died over the period in the South West while the lowest figure was for Yorkshire and The Humber, and Wales.

Energy firms last year raised prices for gas and electricity despite a fall in wholesale prices.

Caroline Abrahams of Age UK urged the Government to work to improve called on the Government to look at ways of helping people with energy concerns.

"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.

"Cold homes have life and death consequences for older people and we should be deeply ashamed of that in an affluent country like ours".