The Department of Health and Social Care (DH) has said that NHS England (NHSE) has “identified key opportunities to further improve uptake” of the national childhood flu jab programme, including rolling it out in community pharmacies.
According to health minister Baroness Merron, NHSE is “exploring the use of other providers...including community pharmacies” to “enhance convenience” of the vaccine.
“This work is ongoing in collaboration with the department, NHSE and key stakeholders,” she said last week (May 30).
Read more: Flu: ‘No changes’ to eligibility as autumn start dates announced
The comment came in a written response to a parliamentary question from Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick.
Downpatrick had asked the DH whether it plans to “explore establishing contractual provisions for community pharmacies to support delivery of the childhood flu national immunisation programme”.
Read more: Pharmacies to ‘supplement’ childhood vaccination drive but GPs preferred
It comes after the annual flu vaccination letter for 2025/26 – published by the DH, NHSE and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) in February – set out that the “children’s programme” of free flu vaccines could begin from September 1.
However, “no changes were recommended” by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) for children’s flu vaccines at the time.
Read more: ICBs to commission ‘all vaccination services’ from April 2026
Meanwhile, NHSE told C+D in February that its board had approved proposals to delegate “all vaccination services” and “most components of screening services” to integrated care boards (ICBs)”.
Documents set out plans to delegate the “vast majority” of these services to ICBs on April 1 2026 – including community pharmacy services such as flu vaccination and blood pressure checks.
