Tesco pharmacy: Get your £9 flu jab with your weekly shop
Tesco pharmacy is encouraging patients to get their £9 flu jab in the 2021/22 season by pledging to make getting vaccinated "as easy as your weekly shop".
Announcing its pharmacy flu service for the 2021/22 season yesterday (August 25), Tesco said: “With longer opening hours than many GP surgeries and high street pharmacies, customers can get vaccinated at a time that fits around their schedule, including evenings and weekends or even combine it with their weekly shop.”
The vaccination service, available in all 366 Tesco pharmacy branches from September, is available to book now, the supermarket chain said. The appointment is free for those eligible on the NHS, and £9 for those who are not.
“We want to make getting your vaccination as easy as doing the weekly shop,” Adrian Price, superintendent for Tesco pharmacy, said. “We’re doing all we can to make it as convenient as possible for people to get their flu jab to protect themselves and their families. This is the most important flu jab ever for those at risk.”
In an effort to boost this season's vaccination numbers, Tesco has also launched a “Helping you to live healthier” partnership with the British Heart Foundation (BHF), Cancer Research UK and Diabetes UK.
BHF analysis suggests that in the winter of 2019/20, there were around 6,600 excess deaths from heart and circulatory diseases in the UK, with flu likely to be a contributing factor.
Maureen Talbot, senior cardiac nurse at the BHF, said: “People with conditions including heart disease, diabetes and many cancers are at increased risk of severe illness if they get the flu.
“This year, the presence of COVID-19 adds to that risk, so it’s even more important that people get vaccinated.”
High demand expected
Tesco pharmacy is expecting a high demand for flu vaccination slots this year based on last year’s figures and concerns over COVID-19, C+D understands.
COVID-19 safety and social distancing measures will be in place for the flu vaccination service, with the private consultation room cleaned before each appointment, Tesco added.
Last month, C+D reported that Boots had plans to create “special hubs” to offer flu vaccinations in more than 100 of its pharmacies, which will be “an expansion of the Boots COVID-19 vaccination hubs”.
With a global lack of defence built up against flu, modelling for this next season suggests that flu levels in the UK could be up to 50% larger than typically seen for the 2021/22 flu season, the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and NHS Improvement and Public Health England wrote in a letter to contractors last month.
How are you preparing for the next flu season?