GPs will get the remaining 300,000 doses of injected flu vaccine under the national programmes this week, the health ministry said. These are the last deliveries under the programmes.

A wholesaler is taking the doses to surgeries. The vaccines are free for children and people aged 65 and over.

The programmes have 547,504 doses in total, 500,000 of them injected. So far 108,518 doses have been given, 20,484 of them nasal, meaning they are taken through the nose.

The ministry says November is a good month to get vaccinated. People can have the shot before the flu season or during it. It lowers the risk of complications and of going to hospital with flu.

Vaccination under the programmes began in early October and will run until the end of March next year.