HEALTH officials have said people should still have flu jabs, despite revelations that only three per cent of vaccinations given this season were effective.

Normally, the jabs are around 50 per cent effective but one of the main strains has mutated, meaning it has become immune.

However, experts are saying this year is just a blip and in most years it has been effective against the potentially deadly virus.

Dr Ayoola Oyinloye, a Wiltshire public health consultant, said: “The flu vaccine remains the best overall way, in addition to good hand hygiene, to protect yourself from flu, so people should certainly not be deterred from having it.

“Its performance this year is a blip in the international vaccine’s very strong historical track record in preventing the illness and its spread. Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to fully predict the strains that will circulate in any given season.

“This season the virus that one of the components of the vaccine protects against has significantly changed, resulting in its reduced effectiveness so far.”

The advice still being given out is that people who fall into the main at risk categories should make sure they get the vaccine as it will protect them from other strains of the virus.

“We encourage everyone in the at risk groups, which comprise all pregnant women, children aged two to four, under 65-year-olds with underlying heath conditions and people aged 65 and above, and carers, to keep being vaccinated as other strains covered by the vaccine may yet come into circulation,” said Dr Oyinloye.

“For those eligible, it is free and available in a nasal spray for young children. To give added reassurance and protection, effective antiviral drugs are also available on prescription from GPs for these groups of people most at risk.”