HALF of all GP surgeries across Morecambe Bay are having to re-stock with flu jabs as demand has risen in response to fears over bird flu.

Public health specialist Carole Wood says she is not aware of any practices running out of flu vaccine - but stocks are running low at some surgeries and half of them are having to get more.

Take-up of the vaccine has been boosted by the avian flu scare even though the normal seasonal flu jab would offer no protection against the HN51 virus if it did mutate into a strain that could spread between people and not just birds.

The shortage means some patients in the high risk groups - those over 65 or with certain health conditions like asthma - are having to wait longer for their flu jabs.

However Ms Wood says she is confident' that all high risk patients would get their vaccine by Christmas.

The target uptake is to cover 70 per cent of people aged over 65. The Morecambe Bay Primary Care Trust has reached 60 per cent so far - ahead of its positionat this time last year.