The Department of Health and Social Care (DH) announced at the end of June – in line with advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) - that the age of adults eligible for the jab would rise from 65 and over to “75 years and over”.
But the IPA called the move “hugely concerning” and a “reckless decision”, arguing it would “hugely restrict the availability” of Covid jabs on the NHS.
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IPA chief executive Dr Leyla Hannbeck argued that “pharmacies up and down the country are going to face saying ‘no’ to thousands of concerned patients who have become used to getting their annual Covid jab”.
“Many will now be very worried” that they are at “greater risk of catching Covid because of the withdrawal of their entitlement” to the vaccination, she said.
The IPA believes this is a “classic example of self-defeating short-term decision-making within the NHS”, Hannbeck said, arguing there is a “serious risk that Covid cases in this age group increase compared to previous years”.
“Madness”
“Saving a few pounds by not giving a patient a jab” could leave the NHS with a bill for “thousands” if a patient “ends up hospitalised with Covid later on”, she said.
She added that “many patients will fill they need to pay privately to get protection”, adding that “concerned patients should talk through the options at their local pharmacy”.
Hannbeck urged the JCVI and the government to “think again and make everyone 65 and over in England eligible for an NHS covid jab from their local pharmacy”.
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The IPA cited countries like America and Germany, where recommendations for Covid-19 vaccination for those aged 65 and over are still in place, arguing that it seems like “madness” that “British seniors are being denied protection” like others.
“To deny millions of seniors their Covid jab this year is to take an unacceptable risk with patient health and risks producing a winter crisis the NHS simply won’t be able to cope with,” Hannbeck said.
The DH’s updated advice for autumn Covid-19 vaccination also stated that “frontline health and social care workers and staff working in care homes for older adults will not be eligible for Covid-19 vaccination” under the updated national programme.
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“This is following an extensive review by JCVI of the scientific evidence surrounding the impact of vaccination on transmission of the virus from health and social care workers to patients,” it said.
“In the current era of high population immunity to Covid-19″, additional doses provide “very limited, if any, protection against infection and any subsequent onward transmission of infection”, it added.
