Flu vaccines administered by community pharmacy in winter 24/25 at highest rate outside of pandemic

Community pharmacy administered over 4 million flu vaccines across England in the 2024/25 winter flu season. This is the highest number of flu vaccines administered outside of the pandemic, analysis from the Company Chemists’ Association has found.

The number of flu vaccines administered by community pharmacy shows a clear growth trend since national commissioning began in 2015.

• This past year, there was nearly a 10% growth in the number of flu vaccines administered, compared to 2023/24.
• 9,291 pharmacies participated in the 2024/25 flu vaccination programmes.
• Overall, the average participating pharmacy administered over 400 vaccines.
• There were 938 pharmacies that administered more than 1,000 vaccines in the single season.
• During the 2024/25 winter flu season, more vaccines were administered in the most deprived communities, in line with previous years.

CCA Chief Executive Malcolm Harrison said: “Vaccines are one of the most effective tools in our armoury to prevent ill-health.

Pharmacies have proven time and time again that they can boost both the confidence in and uptake of vaccinations, especially amongst underserved communities.

The success of last winter’s flu vaccine programme shows that community pharmacy is a strong partner to the NHS. The recent regional commissioning of pharmacies to deliver RSV and Pertussis vaccines shows that health systems are beginning to take advantage of the opportunity. But with growing demand on NHS services and variability in uptake there is a need to move faster and further. Commissioning all adult vaccines from community pharmacy is the logical next step.”

With more pharmacies in areas of higher deprivation¹ and their convenient locations and extended opening hours, pharmacies provide accessible care to patients – particularly those in underserved communities. In fact, a previous CCA analysis showed more than half of all Covid vaccinations delivered to Black/Black British, Asian/Asian British and mixed ethnicity groups were delivered in community pharmacies².

The CCA urges the NHS to build on the success of recent RSV/Pertussis early adopters and commission pharmacies to deliver a wide range of NHS vaccinations – including pneumonia, shingles, meningitis, and routine childhood vaccinations. Taken together, this would free up 10 million GP vaccination appointments each year³, allowing GPs to focus on delivering care to patients with more complex care needs.

Commissioning pharmacies to take on a greater role in vaccination delivery would ensure better reach to underserved communities, increase uptake and free up GP capacity and hospital beds at a critical time for the NHS.

References:

• Todd, A, Copeland, Husband A, et al. The positive pharmacy care law: an area-level analysis of the relationship between community pharmacy distribution, urbanity and social deprivation in England: BMJ Open, 2014 Aug 12;4(8):e005764
• CCA, Learning from the covid vaccination progamme, 2024
• CCA, CCA Prospectus – a future for community pharmacy, 2022

Notes to editor

• The data is from September 2024 to February 2025.
• Earlier this year, the CCA hosted a reception in parliament for the Pharmacy Vaccines Development Group which launched a report calling for community pharmacies to be harnessed to combat falling vaccine uptake. The PVDG is a coalition of organisations representing the entire vaccines supply chain.