More than half of vulnerable Bradford residents with chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes still had not received jabs to protect them against a potentially deadly winter flu virus by the end of last year.

Latest health figures show that only 43.9 per cent of high-risk groups aged under-65 had received seasonal flu jabs in the Bradford and Airedale Primary Care Trust area by the end of December.

Furthermore, 25 per cent of pensioners in the district had not been vaccinated against the virus but the figure for vaccinating the over 65s has exceeded the 70 per cent national target.

And health chiefs in the area expect the take-up figure to be slightly higher as figures from three surgeries will not be collated until the end of the month.

Dr Martin Schweiger of the West Yorkshire unit of the Health Protection Agency, said: "Relatively few people have suffered from a bad dose of flu in the last few years because people are being responsible about having the jab.

"But what many people don't realise is that the make-up of the flu virus changes every year, so it is important to get a new jab each winter. Each year's jab is manufactured specifically to combat the current strain of flu."