Patients aged 50-64 will be eligible to receive a flu vaccine in England and Scotland free of charge

During next winter’s flu seasons, patients aged fifty to sixty-four years will be eligible to receive a flu vaccine in England and Scotland free of charge.

Currently, community pharmacists in England are not eligible for a flu vaccine under the NHS flu vaccination advanced service. Despite this, all frontline social and health staff should have been offered a vaccination.

Chief Executive Officer of Kensington Chelsea & Westminster Local Pharmaceutical Committee and Pharmacy London lead for vaccinations, Rekha Shah, stated: “They would be able to do an incredible job of it, were the fact that this cohort is to be included was made known right from the start so that providers, including GP practices and community pharmacies, were able to plan accordingly and order their own stocks of vaccines right from the outset.”