Flu vaccination programme
Flu vaccination programme
Last year’s pharmacy-led vaccination programme for flu was extremely successful and by the end of January 2021 pharmacies had delivered more than 2.5 million flu jabs in England, an increase of more than 1 million on the previous year. The number could exceed 4 million this year.
Building on this success the Department of Health and Social Care made amendments to the Secretary of State Directions so that community pharmacy contractors fully meeting the requirements of the provision of the Community Pharmacy Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Service were able to commence injections from the beginning of September.7
These directions provide the legal basis for providing the service using a national protocol as an alternative to the PGD route. Most of the UK now specifies that people over 50 years of age are eligible for the jab, the reason being that due to last year’s Covid shielding it is likely that flu and other respiratory diseases will have a greater impact in the coming winter.