Following the announcement that community pharmacies will help deliver the Meningitis B vaccination programme to eligible young people ahead of the new academic year, Malcolm Harrison, Chief Executive of the Company Chemists’ Association, said:
“Recent meningitis outbreaks have highlighted the importance of vaccinations in protecting the public from serious diseases.
The announcement shows the crucial role community pharmacies play in delivering convenient and accessible vaccination services to help curb outbreaks.
This campaign will provide peace of mind to students and parents ahead of the new academic year, ensuring that students can start university with greater protection against a serious and potentially life-threatening disease.
Pharmacies are ready to play a bigger role in administering childhood vaccines, and can help reverse worrying trends in uptake, as outlined in our recent evidence to the Lords Childhood Vaccinations Committee.1 This is another step towards a broader, nationally commissioned pharmacy vaccination offer for children and adolescents. We look forward to further details of the programme which is subject to ongoing consultation with Community Pharmacy England.
The CCA launched the Pharmacy Vaccinations Development Group (PVDG) two years ago, bringing together key stakeholders from across both the supply chain and various public bodies, to explore how community pharmacy could play a larger role in administering a whole range of NHS vaccines.”
References
1 – House of Lords Childhood Vaccinations Committee, Uncorrected oral evidence, 1 June
Notes to editors
- The MenB vaccine helps protect against meningococcal group B bacteria that can cause serious illnesses, including meningitis and sepsis. It’s given to children when they’re 8 weeks, 12 weeks and 1 year old. See NHS website for further details.
- NHS England data shows that in 2023/24, 90.6% children completed their primary courses of the MenB vaccine by their first birthday. This has been falling each year since 2017/18 when it was 92.5%. See Childhood Vaccination Coverage Statistics 2023-24: Data Tablesxlsx 400 KB – table 1.
- NHS England data shows that in 2023/24, the percentage of children vaccinated by their second birthday with the MenB booster was 87.3% See Childhood Vaccination Coverage Statistics 2023-24: Data Tablesxlsx 400 KB – table 2.
- The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that 95% coverage is reached for all routine childhood immunisations in the UK by age five.
- Pharmacies already provide a range of childhood vaccines privately, including MenB vaccines.