Covid vaccinations are set to become available privately from next month, both through private healthcare providers and high-street pharmacies.
According to the Press Association news agency, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is in talks with major pharmacy chains, such as Boots, to sell the vaccine to people who cannot get jabbed on the NHS. The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid jab will also be available from private health firms, it added.
It follows the launch earlier this month by Pharmadoctor, which provides medical services via pharmacies, to sell Covid jabs via its network of Pharmadoctor-registered pharmacies for £45.
The Pfizer move will see the price of jabs being set by individual pharmacies, much in the same way that prices are currently set for annual flu jabs.
Covid vaccination
Covid vaccinations should be available privately
Private Covid jabs coming closer, but probably not for this autumn
Dr Gillian Ellsbury, primary care medical director at Pfizer UK, said: “Covid-19 has not gone away and continues to be a threat.
“As we move from a pandemic to an endemic state, we need to ensure we remain ready to respond to this constantly evolving and unpredictable virus.
“Vaccines remain an important pillar in helping to prevent serious illness or hospitalisation as a result of Covid-19.
“By enabling the wider availability of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine we are facilitating choice and access for those that are not eligible to receive it through the NHS programme, but want the option of a Covid-19 vaccine,” she added.
Last week, the government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said this year’s NHS Covid-19 vaccination programme will be even more limited than last year’s.
Jabs will be offered to adults aged 75 years and over, care home residents and anyone aged six months or over who is immunosuppressed.
This compares with last autumn’s programme, which was for all adults aged 65, alongside care home residents and the immunosuppressed.
Health minister Maria Caulfield said the government had accepted the JCVI’s recommendations. “It is important the most vulnerable groups are offered a vaccine through the NHS programme to strengthen their immunity to protect themselves and reduce pressure on the NHS,” she said.
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