Pharmacies to take central role in UK autumn vaccine boosters

English pharmacies will have an enhanced role in the UK’s Covid-19 autumn booster programme to help the NHS reduce hospital vaccine services in an effort to clear an urgent backlog in medical treatments.

Senior figures within the health service told the Financial Times they expected the majority of hospital vaccination centres to close to the general public to focus on administering jabs to staff and social care workers.

The NHS stressed it was still awaiting final guidance on administering the booster programme from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which is expected in the coming weeks.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts, said the Covid-19 jab might remain available to the general public in “a few hospitals”.

Hospitals played a vital role during the country’s initial immunisation strategy. However, there has been growing alarm at waiting times for non-emergency cases facing the health service as winter approaches.

Recent analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies warned that the number of people on NHS waiting lists could increase from 5.45m to 14m by autumn 2022.

Hopson said shifting the burden almost entirely from NHS trusts would be “helpful” as it would mean “one less demand being placed on them” as they go “full tilt” to overcome the elective care logjam. 

In June, the JCVI issued interim guidance on booster jabs. The body recommended that the UK implement a two-stage programme, with Covid and flu vaccines given jointly to the most vulnerable, including the over-70s and frontline healthcare workers. 

On Tuesday, health secretary Sajid Javid said the UK’s vaccine programme was creating a “wall of defence” across the population, adding that he anticipated the booster plan would begin from September with Covid and flu jabs given to over-50s “at the same time”.

However, JCVI member Professor Adam Finn, said that the body was still determining which vulnerable groups would be eligible for the booster jab.

“We need to review evidence as to whether people who receive vaccines early on in the programme are in any serious risk of getting serious disease and whether the protection they’ve got from those first two doses is still strong,” he told BBC Breakfast on Wednesday. “We clearly don’t want to be giving vaccines to people that don’t need them”.

About 50 NHS hospitals in England were the first to roll out the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine to over-80s and care home workers in December 2020. About 270 hospitals are currently running vaccination sites.

Meanwhile, pharmacies are expecting to step up their role, in a move first reported by the Telegraph.

Alastair Buxton, director of NHS Services at the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, which supports community pharmacies in England, told the FT that the NHS had already contacted pharmacies to gauge interest in signing up to the booster rollout and was processing where demand was strongest.

“There are estimates that we could see around 1,700 or 2,000 pharmacies [sign up],” he said. About 700 pharmacies are currently involved in the immunisation programme. 

Buxton said the sector was well placed to handle the demands of jointly administering flu and Covid-19 vaccinations. “It may be a case of one shot in each arm,” he said.

However, he said “there may be some initial kinks in the system”, as the sector established the most efficient method of delivery.

“Success will depend on uninterrupted supplies of the vaccines and an agile response at local level to meeting demand,” said Andrew Lane, chair of the National Pharmacy Association, which represents independent pharmacies. 

This year, the seasonal flu programme is set to be expanded, with 35m people across England, including pregnant women, frontline health staff, the over-50s and primary and secondary school children expected to be eligible for the jab.

One chief executive of an NHS trust said the “critical point” was being able to deliver the flu and Covid vaccines simultaneously.

“If we can get both the flu jab and the booster programme to coalesce, it will be fine,” the executive said.

“If we are in a situation whereby one or other of them runs two or three weeks out of kilter, it’s going to be a hell of a job. Both to get people to come and take it, and the manpower required to effectively run two programmes over the same time period,” he added.

In the long term, pharmacies could offer a convenient and accessible alternative to vaccine centres which would reduce pressure on parts of the health service, said Lane.

“Pharmacies are present in all communities, including the most deprived areas of the country,” he added. “They are also a more sustainable option than the temporary infrastructure of mass vaccination centres — we’re here for the long haul.” 

Professor Jeremy Brown, a member of the JCVI, speaking in a personal capacity, said: “In rough terms, we feel a good time for a third booster dose is at least six months after the second and that — for most at-risk people — will be around the same time that the flu jab is administered in the autumn.”

The CovBoost study at the University of Southampton has been exploring the effectiveness of using a combination of booster vaccines from a possible choice of seven.

Results from the study are expected by the end of the month, according to a person familiar with the matter. 

“The government is preparing for a booster programme and the independent JCVI has published its interim advice on who to prioritise for a third vaccine from September 2021,” the Department of Health and Social Care said.

The NHS said: “Planning is already under way to deliver booster jabs this autumn in line with interim guidance from the JCVI with clinical trials for booster jabs ongoing.”

According to the latest government figures, about 76 per cent of the UK population has now been fully vaccinated.