Pharmacies are seeing a “surge” in bookings for the one-off Meningococcal B (MenB) vaccination service launching today, amid concerns that they have not been properly supported in the rollout.
According to a survey by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), published on Saturday, 56% of pharmacies had seen a large number of bookings since the booking system opened, while a similar number saw “interest from patients, or their families, who are not eligible” for the service.
The NPA also warned that some pharmacies “do not currently have sufficient stock” and have “had to reduce appointments” until they are allocated enough vaccines to meet demand.
Read more: Pharmacies to vaccinate students in ‘one-off’ MenB programme
Community Pharmacy England (CPE) said last week that it was working “urgently” with NHSE to improve MenB vaccine allocation and ordering after it raised concerns about how pharmacies can “balance stock availability with the requirement to provide 100 appointments per month”.
Pharmacies taking part in the service have been told to list “a minimum of 100 appointments” for the MenB vaccine service per month, but are being given an “initial allocation” of just 10 vaccine doses, along with a fixed order deadline and delivery day.
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And while walk-in appointments are a requirement of the service, NHSE guidance both says that the appointments “can only be serviced using any surplus stock” and that there is “no facility to order additional stock for walk-in appointments”.
CPE said it was concerned about the “unreasonable additional workload” the current system puts of pharmacies, as well as “reputational issues” arising if people turn up to be vaccinated but there is no stock to do so - but added that NHSE has since “recognised the need for greater flexibility in their approach”.
Read more: Pharmacies to receive 20,000 meningitis jabs from NHS supply
According to the negotiator, NHSE has now increased vaccine allocations to “better align with current patient bookings” and also allow “some extra capacity for walk-in appointments”.
NHSE has been approached for comment.
More actions
CPE said stock ordering and delivery processes will improve in early August, when NHSE’s “new vaccinations wholesaler arrangement comes online”.
NHSE has “provided reassurance” it will be monitoring the situation and told CPE that “at the moment, the number of available appointments in pharmacies far exceeds those that will be needed to vaccinate the full cohort”.
Read more: Pharmacies face ‘unprecedented’ demand for meningitis jabs
CPE said the other actions NHSE has taken to support pharmacies include:
- Reviewing bookings daily and updating pharmacy allocations accordingly
- Working through regional teams to identify and escalate cases which could result in booked appointments exceeding available vaccine stock
- Contacting pharmacies with upcoming bookings that have not placed a vaccine order
- Supporting pharmacies that have registered but are not yet live
- Sending reminders about balancing vaccine orders with appointment availability
- Managing NHS website messaging to reduce the risk of bookings from ineligible patients and to set expectations around walk-in availability
“Failed to plan”
Last week, NPA chair Olivier Picard also raised concerns on LinkedIn over the allocation of 10 vaccine doses for pharmacies when they have been told to release a minimum of 100 appointments.
He said pharmacies asking for additional stock had requests “rejected” and that pharmacies have been set up to “absorb the consequences of a system that has failed to plan adequately”.
Read more: Pharmacy sector calls for meningitis jabs after outbreak
“If we are serious about vaccinating more than one million people in a matter of weeks, we need a supply model that reflects the scale and urgency of the challenge,” he said.
“Patients who have come forward for vaccination may be told there is no stock available. Their frustration will be understandable,” he said.
“But who will be standing in front of them having those conversations? It will be community pharmacy teams.”
Annual programme
The NPA’s survey also revealed that 97% of pharmacies are “willing to be included” in more programmes aimed at teenagers and young adults.
The body noted that the one-off MenB vaccination service is the first national NHS vaccination programme being delivered only through community pharmacies, and called on health officials to introduce the service as an annual programme.
CPE NHS services director Alastair Buxton said earlier this month that NHSE guidance “should have been published sooner” and that the stock allocation approach was “far from ideal”.
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“We recognise it is not easy to predict the early demand for the vaccine and understand the desire for NHSE and the UKHSA to tightly control stock allocations due to the cost of the vaccine and the cohort size,” he said.
It comes after the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) last week recommended that “a routine offer” of a MenB vaccination should be given to those born on or after May 1, 2015 at around 15 years of age, with the first cohort eligible in 2030.
The NPA and Independent Pharmacies Association both supported the recommendation, which included “additional considerations” about offering the MenB vaccine to those born on or before April 30, 2015 at around 15 years of age, those too young to take part in this current one-off programme, and those too old to be offered vaccination through the 15-year-old programmes.
