The vaccinations are 70 per cent effective, they minimise complications, and they save lives.MERVYN KOHLERHead of Public AffairsHelp the Aged, London EC1. Help the Aged promotes this message, because of the incidence of these conditions in our older population. Whilst we support moves to cut out frivolous use of GPs' time, it is important to ensure that flu is taken seriously by those for whom it is a real risk. The Department of Health advises that people with chronic lung, heart or kidney disease, or with diabetes or a damaged immune system, should seek an annual flu vaccination. So all 15 Essex councils are working together on a future strategy including waste minim- isation and recycling, and all the other waste options that are necessary because our landfill is running out.

As a public broadcaster, the BBC's own management should be conscious of their mission to explain themselves, all the time, to the licence-payers.Nor is this the first time the corporation has been taken unawares by the public reaction to changes that it has announced without consultation. However, it omitted to mention that flu can be a serious illness for many older people. Sir: Your report (18 September) urging patients with colds and flu not to clog up GPs' surgeries makes a fair point. Essex residents have been involved in commenting on the strategy, through area liaison groups for north, west and south Essex, and through a comprehensive booklet which is still available to your readers. LEWIS HERBERTPrincipal EngineerWaste StrategyEssex County CouncilChelmsford, Essex. Sir: Polly Toynbee made an error in her manifesto for recycling ("The battle of incinerators vs recyclers", 16 September) There is no proposal to build four incinerators in Essex We know that time is running out for Essex waste. Doctors have remained unswerving in their commitment to patients. The huge increases in the number of patients treated by the NHS have been achieved by sharply increasing the intensity, complexity and volume of work undertaken by doctors and other health service staff.

It has been achieved, as Frank Dobson, the Secretary of State for Health, himself acknowledges, by dedicated staff working "flat out".Dr A W MACARAChairman of CouncilBritish Medical AssociationLondon WC1. Surely this does not mean that medical staff should never be remunerated fairly for the increasingly heavy and complex responsibilities they bear.I also object very strongly to the implication that doctors or the BMA bore any responsibility for the winters of discontent of the Seventies. It has led to fair and justifiable increases for the Prime Minister and his colleagues.One can only assume that the Treasury did not seek to constrain the Senior Salaries Review Body with the same vigour that it is now attempting to impose on the Review Bodies governing doctors, nurses and teachers.I object to the "double-whammy" whereby governments seek to constrain the independent review bodies before they start their deliberations as well as reserving the right to stage or vary the awards after the review body has reported.Of course I recognise that any increase in the salary bill for cabinet ministers, no matter how great, would have an imperceptible effect upon the public purse. The Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body was established with a clear remit to make recommendations on doctors' pay levels by reference to comparator professions. The Independent may regard comparability as an old-fashioned, Seventies concept The British Medical Association does not. Sir: Your leading article ("Top jobs with tough responsibilities merit top salaries", 18 September) quotes me selectively and pejoratively before going into attack.