This year's flu outbreak could be even deadlier than the last one – but the SNP is not prepared https://t.co/mhZPQK90J3

— Jackie Baillie (@jackiebmsp) November 12, 2025

Professor John Robertson OBA

Jackie Baillie, Labour Unhealthy Spokesperson, in the terminally-ill Scotsman yesterday, with the above claim.

From BBC Health last week and being broadcast widely and frequently:

Flu strikes every winter, but this year something seems to be different. A seasonal flu virus suddenly mutated in the summer. It appears to evade some of our immunity, has kick-started a flu season more than a month early, and is a type of flu that history suggests is more severe.

The NHS has now issued a “flu jab SOS” as fears grow that this will add up to a brutal winter. There is a lot of nuance and uncertainty, but leading flu experts have told me they would not be shocked if this was the worst flu season for a decade. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2dr8gzdz1wo

BBC UK has a link to the story but BBC Scotland does not.

Important information is not being communicated.

First, availability in England – you can get the free NHS flu vaccine if you:

• are aged 65 or over (including those who will be 65 by 31 March 2026)
• have certain long-term health conditions
• are pregnant
• live in a care home
• are the main carer for an older or disabled person, or receive a carer’s allowance
• live with someone who has a weakened immune system

Source: https://www.nhs.uk/vaccinations/flu-vaccine/

In Scotland, significantly wider free availability is in place

This includes:

• those aged 65 and over (on or before 31 March 2025)
• those aged 18 to 64 with an eligible health condition (as defined in the chapter 19 of the Green Book)
• those who are pregnant
• those living in a long-stay residential care home or other long-stay care facility
• those living with someone who has a weakened immune system
• an unpaid or young carer
• a frontline health or social care worker
• a non-frontline NHS worker
• a poultry worker or bird handler
• an asylum seeker living in a Home Office hotel or B&B accommodation
• those experiencing homelessness
• those experiencing substance misuse
• those living in a Scottish prison

Source: https://publichealthscotland.scot/population-health/health-protection/immunisation-vaccine-and-preventable-disease/seasonal-immunisations/flu-immunisations/adult-flu-immunisations/eligible-groups/

Second, uptake-levels in key groups are already significantly lower in key >65 group in England.

For 2024-2025, early trends show Scotland with stronger uptake among over-65s (71.6% vs. England’s ~60-65% estimated based on historical patterns) – multiple sources at: https://x.com/i/grok?conversation=1987603360061788291

Third and perhaps most indicative of the risk is the number of doses given and the contrast is shocking.

NHS Scotland has given 927 000 doses so far: 

https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/viral-respiratory-diseases-in-scotland-surveillance-report/viral-respiratory-diseases-in-scotland-surveillance-report-6-november-2025/

All things being equal, we might expect the figure in England to be around 9.27 million but it was only 4.3million: 

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports-2025-to-2026-season/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-report-6-november-2025-week-45

So, less than half the Scottish uptake per capita, in England, reflecting the wider free availability, above.

Has any journalist in Scotland noticed this?