The recalling of thousands of doses of a flu vaccine Preflucel will not affect the flu vaccination programme, a Scottish Government spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said that they were aware of the voluntary recall of the flu vaccine and had alerted the NHS in Scotland. The spokesperson assured that there was no health risk.

Speaking on topic, the spokesperson said, “Only around 2,000 doses of this specific vaccine have been made available to the NHS in Scotland, and this recall does not affect the flu vaccination programme, for which over 1.1 million doses of other flu vaccines have been ordered.”

As many as 300,000 doses of the flu vaccine are being recalled from hospitals and pharmacies across the UK and Europe, following health experts found that the vaccine was causing more muscle pain, headaches and fatigue than the previous vaccines.

Vaccine maker Baxter Healthcare and drug watchdog Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency are investigating the cause of the aggressive side-effects.

Doctors and nurses have been ordered not to use the flu vaccine in question until further notice.