The Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) has written to the Health and Social Care Committee (HSCC) urging it to “harness” community pharmacy to improve vaccine uptake in the UK.
In a letter to HSCC chair Layla Moran MP, the CCA referenced the UK’s recent loss of measles-free status and said there is an “opportunity” for pharmacies to “drive vaccine coverage and uptake, especially amongst underserved communities”.
It added that community pharmacy “already has a proven track record in administering NHS vaccination programmes” and has “long played a significant role in delivering the national seasonal flu and covid vaccines”.
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And it said pharmacies “are in the right place to help drive uptake and coverage within underserved communities, where vaccine confidence and uptake rates tend to be lower” and “access to other providers can be more challenging”.
The body also told the HSCC that community pharmacy “has the potential to administer all adult NHS vaccination programmes” and eventually “contribute to the entire National Immunisation Programme” - but that “realising this vision requires changes in approach”.
Commissioning by age cohort
In the letter, the CCA called on NHS England (NHSE) and integrated care boards (ICBs) to “commission by age cohort rather than vaccination programme”.
It said that because pharmacies are commissioned to administer flu and covid jabs, but not others such as shingles or pneumococcal vaccines, patients who receive one vaccine at their pharmacy but are eligible for others “can experience unnecessary friction”.
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“If patients must attend multiple locations to get their vaccinations, there is a risk that they will not receive them at all,” it warned.
The body said routine vaccinations should be commissioned from pharmacies by age cohorts so that vaccines can be “promoted and offered opportunistically”, adding that this approach “would have a significant impact on overall uptake and make every contact count”.
ICB commissioning
The CCA added that pharmacies “need significant time to prepare for vaccination programmes of any kind”, and urged NHSE and ICBs to clarify how programmes will be commissioned from April 2027 onwards, when commissioning becomes the responsibility of ICBs.
It recommended that they consider “learnings from the Covid vaccination programme”, which “benefited from a national framework, ensuring nationwide standards, with flexibility for specific enhancements based on local need”.
“Nationally set frameworks of this kind going forwards will remove unnecessary postcode lotteries and ensure a common offer across the whole of England,” it said.
Early communication
The body also stressed that despite the government confirming pharmacies’ involvement in the HPV catch-up campaign from this year, the sector “has had no further details on what shape this programme will take nor when it will begin”.
“Like any business, pharmacies need early communication on forthcoming vaccination programmes to scale up resources, and to invest in IT, premises and personnel,” it said.
“They also need time to prepare pharmacy teams and engage their customers and patients, promoting this new service to ensure widespread uptake.”
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The CCA called on the government and NHSE to “set out the terms of the HPV vaccination programme” and “embed early communication into forthcoming programmes set to involve community pharmacy”.
And it asked the HSCC to help highlight its proposed changes to the government and NHSE, “as well as their associated benefits to patients”.
“We are confident that a bigger role for community pharmacy in vaccination programmes would help to reverse the trajectory of current uptake trends,” it said.
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It comes after the government last week published its annual flu vaccination letter, announcing that there are “no changes to eligible cohorts for the 2026/27 programme”.
And it follows the National Pharmacy Association calling for the expansion of community pharmacy vaccine services amid a measles outbreak in north London.
