Eligible groups for influenza vaccination in the U.K.
On Wednesday the 5th of August, the Department of Health and Social Care in association with Public Health England wrote its annual update to health professionals in relation to the influenza vaccination programme for this year. Among the changes envisaged for 2020-21 are the following:
- Expansion of the programme in relation to eligible patient groups
- Maximising uptake among vulnerable patient groups so as to improve coverage compared to previous years
- Expanding the workforce able to administer vaccines
- Making provisions for children of parents who object to the intranasal porcine gelatine-containing live attenuated spray to instead receive an inactivate vaccine via injection
- Further measures to maximise uptake among frontline health and social care workers
- Additional provisions to secure vaccine supplies to reflect the increased scope of the programme.
The actual letter is available here. Of particular interest to the reader might be Appendix A, which lists the groups eligible for vaccination under the national health service. This appendix is shown in the images below:
