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Community Pharmacy England has agreed with NHS England the launch of a “one-season trial” of a flu vaccination service for children aged 2 and 3. 

This will be commissioned as an advanced service from October 1 in a bid to increase uptake among this age group, who ordinarily receive flu jabs from their GP surgery. 

Contractors will be paid £9.58 for each vaccine administered, with the funding to come from NHS vaccination budgets and not the global sum for community pharmacies. 

The service specification has been published by NHSE. 

Contractors who wish to sign up to provide the service, which will run until March 2026, will be able to register on the NHSBSA’s MYS portal from August 1, and in order to receive vaccines from the centrally procured stock must register by 23:59 on August 31. 

Later registration will be possible but will lead to vaccines being delivered after the service launch date.

CPE services director Alastair Buxton said: “The commissioning of this new vaccination service from community pharmacies is fully aligned with NHS England’s vaccination strategy, the Government’s recently published 10 Year Plan for Health and the community pharmacy sector’s strong desire to provide more NHS vaccination programmes.

“Community Pharmacy England was pleased to be able to agree this new Advanced service as a trial for one season, and we are confident that pharmacy teams will be able to increase vaccination rates by providing a convenient and accessible service to parents and their eligible children.

“It represents another strategically important step towards community pharmacies being able to support the delivery of all NHS vaccination programmes, However, pharmacy owners will need to reflect on the size of the eligible cohort of children before they decide to opt to provide the service.”