Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K. asked doctors to limit flu vaccinations to those suffering from chronic disease and the elderly after shortages forced the government to tap an emergency stockpile of doses.

Doctors should divert any spare doses to practices where they are needed immediately, the Department of Health said today. The department said yesterday that most of the 400,000 vaccines in a contingency reserve are being distributed to doctors who failed to order enough ahead of time. About 50,000 doses are being kept in reserve for poultry workers in case of an avian influenza outbreak.

Some 14 million vaccinations are available this year, with deliveries scheduled through December, the government said. Some practices reported shortages because of higher-than-expected demand during their annual immunization programs, prompting the reminder to give priority to those most at risk, Dr. David Salisbury, the department's head of immunization, said.

``The Department of Health is stepping in to try to ease the pressure by issuing stock from its contingency reserve,'' Salisbury said in a letter to general practitioners today. ``We have been able to secure a further contingency stock of 200,000 doses that will be delivered in late January.''

There is concern that U.K. supplies are being used up by healthy patients worried about getting the flu, Salisbury said.

``It's unwise of the government to suggest that GPs are giving the vaccine to those that don't need it,'' Dr. Laurence Buckman of the British Medical Association, said in an interview today. He attributed the shortages to more ``at-risk'' people seeking vaccinations, as well as to the government's request that those caring for the sick and elderly also have a flu vaccine.

``There isn't enough to go around,'' said Buckman, who practices in North London.

More Than Enough

The 14 million doses are more than is required for the 11 million people recommended to have the vaccine, Salisbury said. He recommends vaccinating people over 65 years, those with chronic respiratory, heart, renal or liver disease, diabetes, people whose immune systems are suppressed and those living in nursing homes.

There might not be more doses available after the January delivery because of high international demand, Salisbury wrote.

Health officials worldwide are concerned that bird flu, detected in Eastern Europe last month after spreading from Asia, may mutate into a form that is transmittable between humans. There have been 67 confirmed deaths among people who have caught bird flu, and a pandemic could kill as many as 7.4 million, according to the World Health Organization.

The U.K. said on Nov. 2 the country will have 14.6 million doses of Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu treatment by next September in case of a human outbreak of bird flu. U.K. companies including Acambis Plc and GlaxoSmithKline Plc also are working on flu vaccines that might protect against a wide outbreak.

Public health officials in the U.S. called for a federal vaccination program that targets every American each year as a way to ensure the U.S. can produce and administer enough shots to protect the country. The U.S. has stockpiled 4.3 million doses of Tamiflu as of Nov. 20, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To contact the reporter on this story: Etain Lavelle in London at at elavelle1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 22, 2005 11:51 EST