Infants from as young as six months who have chronic health conditions and pregnant women will be among the first to receive the swine flu vaccination, the DoH has announced.

It has also been confirmed that GPs will be able to give the swine flu jab at the same time as the seasonal flu jab. Infants from as young as six months who have chronic health conditions and pregnant women will be among the first to receive the swine flu vaccination, the DoH has announced.

All individuals aged six months to 65 years in the seasonal flu at-risk groups, pregnant women, all household contacts of immunno-comprised individuals and individuals over the age of 65 in the current seasonal flu risk groups will be made priority groups for the vaccine.

Frontline healthcare workers such as GPs and practice nurses will also receive the jab ‘in parallel' to the priority groups.

GPs will be expected to begin vaccinating patients in the priority groups, starting with those aged six months to 65 years in the seasonal flu risk groups, from October.

Speaking at a briefing in central London on Thursday, Sir Liam Donaldson, the CMO for England, said that all patients in priority groups should receive the vaccine by the end of December.

The announcement of the priority groups comes as the number of cases of swine flu continues to fall in England.

There was an estimated 25,000 new cases in England in the last week compared with 30,000 the previous one.

Rates of hospitalisations and the number of patients in critical care also fell, although there were eight more deaths bringing the total to 44.

Sir Liam said that as the number of cases declines, the flu hotline will be scaled down from 1,500 call centre workers at its launch to between 200 and 600 from 23 August.

Children in five cities across England could become the first to be vaccinated against swine flu, if a trial is launched to produce data on the effectiveness of vaccines in children.

The NHS National Institute for Health Research will decide whether to fund the trial which would see children in Bristol, Oxford, Southampton, Exeter and London receive the jab.

If successful the trial would begin in September and involve up to 900 children, aged six months to 12 years.

Last month, an adult swine flu vaccine trial involving 175 people began at the Leicester Royal Infirmary.

It is believed that the results of this trial could become available in four to six weeks' time.

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