Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

The next phase of the swine flu vaccination programme is to get underway, with children and elderly people next to be offered the vaccine.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) said it would write to parents of children aged between six months and five years old, and those over 65, to invite them to make appointments.

The vaccination programme began last Monday. More than 30,000 people considered to be in the “at risk” group have already been given the jab at HSE clinics around the country, including pregnant women and those with long-term illnesses. The letters will be sent out over the coming weeks.

"We have been giving the first supplies of vaccine to people more at risk from swine flu such as pregnant women, people with long term illness and cancer patients,” said Dr Brenda Corcoran of the HSE National Immunisation Office.

“We now want to start offering the vaccine to all children aged over six months and under five years. Children in this age group are more at risk of getting Swine Flu and are also more at risk of being hospitalised because of complications so we want to make sure that we protect as many children as possible from the effects of the flu.”

The vaccine is being rolled out on a phased basis in an attempt to avoid lengthy queues.

Older children will be vaccinated once this new phase has been completed.

Fourteen people have died of the virus in the State to date. The Department of Health confirmed last week that there had been four additional deaths. Two women and a man died in east of the country in the past week, while a woman died in the south. All four had underlying illnesses.

As of last week, it was estimated that about 3 per cent of the population had contracted swine flu.