HEALTH bosses in Bolton are planning a mock mass vaccination exercise in a bid to be prepared for any flu pandemic or terrorist attack.

Bolton's health chiefs will be running the exercise in March to determine whether they can meet government guidelines to vaccinate 1,000 people in six hours.

The plans have been drawn up so health authorities are ready for any disease emergency, such as a bird flu pandemic, a mass meningitis outbreak or even a terrorist attack where the smallpox virus is unleashed.

Public health specialist Graham Munslow said: "This will be a set-up scenario where we can see if we can do it, so we can test if we can deliver the vaccine, store the vaccine as well as controlling large crowds while getting people vaccinated quickly."

During the mass mock vaccination, those taking part will be streamed into two groups: Those in theory who will have no adverse reaction to the vaccination and those who are at some risk.

The safe group will be vaccinated first, while the risks for the second group are assessed before they can be given the jab.

Mr Munslow said: "We need to time how long it takes us to vaccinate 1,000 people, then multiply that by 280 to work out how long it will take to vaccinate the whole of Boltons population.

"People will be asked to stand in line with their sleeves up to make the process faster.

"There will be a big police presence because one of the things we will need to work on because there will be so many people who will need to be dealt with in a short space of time."

The guidelines have been introduced so health authorities are prepared to vaccinate their entire population within a short space of time should the need arise.

It is not yet known where the mass vaccination will be held.