CCA responds to further booster roll-out

Following the recent announcement from the Government on the booster roll-out targets, Malcolm Harrison, Chief Executive of the Company Chemists’ Association said: “Community pharmacy stands ready to turbo-charge the rollout of the Covid-19 booster, having delivered 15m Covid-19 vaccines so far and a record-breaking number of flu jabs this winter.

The Government now needs to support the sector so it can ensure that members of the public get boosted. The NHS needs to make sure that the onboarding process for new pharmacy-led Covid-19 vaccination sites is as smooth and seamless as possible. The CCA has already called for pharmacy technicians to be added to the list of healthcare professionals who can administer the Covid-19 vaccine via a Patient Group Direction (PGD) – this will help increase capacity in community pharmacy.

We also urge that any non-essential work is reduced so that pharmacy teams can focus on delivering boosters. Moreover, community pharmacies should be granted flexibility to review their opening hours so that they can deliver more vaccines to the public.”