SHOPPERS flocked for a flu jab today in a pioneering new health service at a York supermarket.

For the first time ever in a shop, Asda's Monks Cross branch was offering customers an in-store vaccination.

It had 200 flu jabs in stock, and a steady stream of shoppers took advantage of the "bargain" price of £11.97 a shot, and snapped them up.

Nurse Jeanne Woodhouse started vaccinating at 10am and the jabs were being taken up at a rate of one per minute.

Taxi driver Bernard Nicholson, of Haxby, York, said: "I'm 58, so a bit young for a free one, but I get customers bringing all sorts of coughs and sneezes into the taxi, so I wanted to get the jab."

Shop worker Sue Strong, 57, of Meadowfields Road, Huntington, said: "I had Hong Kong flu once and it was terrible. I didn't want another two weeks of that."

Victoria Cashmore, 23, an accounts assistant from Haxby, said: "I've never had the jab before, but I heard they were doing them here and came down to get one. I really can't afford to take time off work."

Jessica Price, Asda Health and Safety co-ordinator, said: "It seems to have been really successful. Although the nurse didn't start until about 10am, people were arriving at 9.30am and asking about the flu jabs."

Nurse Woodhouse said: "I'm supposed to be here until 6pm, but will run out well before then, it's been that popular. People have been asking if I'll be coming back."

Asda spokeswoman Marie Edgar said they may hold another session next month.

The flu jab is free to people aged over 65 or those suffering from chronic diseases. Doctors encourage people to receive the jab by October before the "flu season" begins.

Louise Coole, a North Yorkshire consultant in communicable diseases, said: "We wouldn't be anticipating any influenza activity until later in the year, with a peak around Christmas time.

"But there has been a lot of winter vomiting, which is sometimes called gastric flu.

"It is very common, but there's probably more awareness of that virus now and people deal with it quite quickly.

"There has been quite a lot of the winter vomiting over the summer which is more unusual, but looking back over the years, it's probably not too significant."

Updated: 12:07 Saturday, October 12, 2002