The Department of Health today confirmed that healthy children under 5 were to be offered the swine flu vaccine.

The news comes despite an overall fall in the number of swine flu cases being reported weekly, the second fall in two weeks. This week it is estimated that there were only 55,000 cases compared to 64,000 new cases the week before.

However it is thought that the decline could be due to the half-term and unseasonably warm weather. Students have been one of the main sources of transmission of the virus.

The plans to vaccinate under-5s comes as latest governmental bulletins showed that despite the total decline in the number of cases, there has been a marked rise in the number of children being admitted to hospital and patient deaths.

In England last week there were 18 deaths related to swine flu, bringing the total death toll up to 215. England has experienced the largest number of fatalities, at 142, followed by 39 deaths in Scotland, 21 in Wales and 13 in Northern Ireland.

The Department of Health believes that young children are particularly vulnerable to the virus, with about 14% of all the deaths in children under 14.

The vaccination program is targeted at those most at risk, such as those with pre-existing medical conditions, health care professionals and pregnant women. GPs have been warned that as the number of those needing to be vaccinated rises from 14 million to 20 million, they should begin offering the vaccine to healthy children before Christmas, even if the vaccinations for others in priority groups has not been completed.