HUNDREDS of Birmingham Muslims are at risk because they have been denied the swine flu vaccine ahead of this year’s Hajj pilgrimage, religious leaders have claimed.
They fear the bug could sweep through parties of pilgrims after they were told that the jab would not be available ahead of the trip to Mecca later this month.
The Birmingham-based Association of British Hujjaj made a plea to the Department of Health for all travellers to be inoculated against the H1N1 virus ahead of the sacred rite.
But only pilgrims deemed to be in “risk” groups from a total of 25,000 making the trip from Britain will be eligible for injections and must wait for a phone call from their GP.
General secretary Khalid Pervez said he fears that dozens of new flu cases could be brought back to Birmingham.
“People are going to be walking, eating and praying in very close proximity so there is fear that swine flu will spread,” he said.
“I wrote to the Secretary of State for Health and the reply was that people travelling to Mecca weren’t at risk.
“Although the pilgrims aren’t in the risk demographic, we feel that because of the circumstances, there should have been an exception made.”
A spokesman for NHS West Midlands said: “Our advice is to follow simple steps around hand and respiratory hygiene.
“The vaccination will not be extended beyond those in the priority groups.”
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