Community Pharmacy England (CPE) yesterday (July 23) announced that it has agreed to the introduction of a “one-season trial of a new flu vaccination service for children aged two to three years” following negotiations with NHS England (NHSE).
The new advanced service will launch from October, with pharmacy owners who choose to take part to be paid £9.58 for each vaccine administered to an eligible child, it said.
CPE stressed that this fee will be funded from NHS vaccination budgets rather than the community pharmacy contractual framework (CPCF) global sum.
Read more: Flu jab fees ‘still being considered’ as CPE reveals increase bid
The new pilot service aims to increase uptake of the vaccine among the cohort, which is normally offered flu vaccines via their general practice – while older children are offered them at school, it said.
Participating pharmacies will be supplied vaccines for the service from centrally procured stock, which for the “majority” of eligible children will be the live attenuated influenza vaccine nasal spray suspension (LAIV), it added.
Read more: DH ‘exploring’ NHS childhood flu jab rollout in pharmacies
Contractors can sign up via the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) “manage your service” (MYS) portal from August 1 and must register by 23:59 on August 31 to receive vaccine stock ahead of the service start on October 1, it said.
CPE added that while later registration “will be possible”, the provision of the centrally procured vaccine “will be received after the starting date for the service” if this is the case.
“Strategically important”
CPE NHS services director Alastair Buxton said that the negotiator was “pleased” to be able to agree the trial service and is “confident that pharmacy teams will be able to increase vaccination rates by providing a convenient and accessible service”.
The service “represents another strategically important step towards community pharmacies being able to support the delivery of all NHS vaccination programmes”, he added.
Read more: Pharmacies deliver record number of flu jabs ‘outside of pandemic’
But he stressed that contractors “will need to reflect on the size of the eligible cohort of children” – which last season was around 1.2 million with just over 40% vaccinated by general practices - “before they decide to opt to provide the service”.
And Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) chief executive Malcolm Harrison said the service is “a vote of confidence for the role of community pharmacy in driving uptake and coverage of NHS vaccines, particularly amongst underserved communities”.
It comes as CPE this week revealed that the fees for delivery of the annual pharmacy flu vaccination programme in 2025/26 have not yet been decided by ministers.
Read more: At last, a potent shot in the arm for vaccine-ready pharmacy
And the CCA last month revealed that pharmacies in England administered the “highest number” of flu vaccines “outside of the pandemic” in the 2024/25 flu season.
Also in June, the government revealed that it was “exploring the use” of community pharmacies to deliver the childhood flu national immunisation programme.
Meanwhile, the NHS 10-year plan unveiled earlier this month set out that pharmacies will be given a “bigger role in prevention by expanding their role in vaccine delivery” – including by delivering human papillomavirus (HPV) catch-up jabs from next year.
