Introduction and module overview

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on all our lives in just a few years. We are still learning how to live with SARS-CoV-2 virus and just beginning to understand how the virus will affect our health and the provision of healthcare in the future. Pharmacies have a big part to play in caring for patients and offering reassurance, where indicated. 

There are worries concerning recent trends in the spread of influenza (flu) virus and how this may interact with Covid-19, either by increasing pressure on healthcare services or as a result of co-infection. These concerns have resulted in changes to the immunisation programme for both Covid-19 and flu. This module will help in your understanding of these conditions and explain the reasons for these changes.

Brief history of the Covid-19 pandemic so far

Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) was caused by a novel coronavirus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), that emerged in China in late 2019. The infection spread rapidly to other countries and, in March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) advised that the situation had become a pandemic (an outbreak of a disease that has spread across several countries or continents). This was caused by what is now known as the alpha variant.

The UK went into its first ‘lockdown’ on March 23, 2020, which ran through to June 2020. Various limits on social gatherings and tiered restrictions were put in place over much of the rest of 2020 with a second lockdown imposed in January 2021. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland had similar restrictions, although details varied. 

In England most restrictions were finally lifted in July 2021, at which time the delta variant of Covid-19 was predominant. With the advent of the omicron variant in December 2021, face masks were again made compulsory for most public indoor venues. In February 2022 nearly all restrictions were lifted in England. Access to free testing for Covid-19 was stopped a few months later. Similar changes occurred elsewhere in the UK but the timings varied.

From December 2020 a mass vaccination programme was undertaken and most adults were given two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.