TB JABS for children in York have been delayed because of a problem with vital equipment.

Health chiefs have written to about 100 parents in the York and Selby area telling them BCG vaccinations for their children were currently unavailable.

Dr Robin Ball, pictured, consultant paediatrician at York Hospital and the Selby and York district's immunisation co-ordinator, said this was because of problem with testing equipment given a week before the jab.

The vaccination - a single injection in the upper left arm - has been shown to give up to 80 per cent protection against Tuberculosis (TB).

Selby and York Primary Care Trust (PCT) differs from most other areas in Britain because it does not routinely give the BCG jab to 13-year-olds.

Dr Ball said this was because North Yorkshire had a very low TB rate.

Parents within the area can ask for their children to be given the jab, and several sessions are held each year.

Dr Ball said the only manufacturer of the testing equipment had been forced to withdraw supplies because of a problem - and now its factory had been closed for refurbishment.

This meant Selby and York teenagers whose parents had asked them to be vaccinated could not be given their jabs this term, but will have to wait until more equipment is available.

Dr Ball said the problem had not hit other areas of the country because their children were routinely immunised fewer times in the year - so the lack of supplies in the spring had not caused a delay.

He said: "We have reassured these parents that we will contact them again as soon as the problems have been resolved. The policy of TB prevention is reviewed very regularly by the local health community to ensure that we are providing the best possible health protection service for local children and young adults."

A pupil at Easingwold School came down with TB in May this year - the second case at the school in just over a year.

Sixth-formers and staff at the school were offered screening for the illness in April 2004 after an older student had been diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis.

A full screening programme was not offered after the most recent case because health chiefs believed it to be isolated.

The rate of TB infection in North Yorkshire went up in 2004, with 35 cases reported compared to 15 the previous year.

Updated: 13:50 Tuesday, July 05, 2005