Community pharmacies delivered nearly half of COVID-19 vaccines during autumn 2025 campaign
Community pharmacies administered around 45% of all COVID-19 vaccinations during the autumn 2025 campaign, unpublished data have revealed.Figures from the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, which ran from 1 October 2025 to 31 January 2026, were given on 2 March 2026 in a written parliamentary answer by former health minister Ashley Dalton, who resigned on the same day on health grounds.Dalton gave no further detail on the number of vaccinations provided.In October 2025, pharmacy teams reported facing abuse after high numbers of ineligible patients were booking COVID-19 vaccinations.For the 2024/2025 vaccination programme, all adults aged 65 years and over were eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. In 2025/2026, this eligibility narrowed to all adults aged 75 years or older.Malcolm Harrison, chief executive of the Company Chemists’ Association, commented: “Delivering nearly half of all COVID-19 vaccinations in the autumn campaign, and already more adult flu vaccines than last year, underscores just how vital community pharmacies are to vaccination efforts.“The evidence is clear that pharmacies should be commissioned to deliver a wider range of NHS vaccines. With the right commissioning framework, community pharmacy can play an even greater role in protecting public health and easing pressure across the wider NHS.”Latest data from Community Pharmacy England have revealed that more flu vaccinations were provided via community pharmacies by the end of November 2025 than in the whole of the 2024/2025 flu vaccination season.The numbers show that 4,218,944 flu vaccinations were provided by the end of November 2025, compared with 4,066,585 in 2024/25.The highest delivery number on record was 5,007,944 in the 2022/2023 flu season.Changes to legislation that will permanently allow community pharmacies to offer vaccination services outside registered premises were debated in the House of Commons on 3 March 2026.Temporary amendments to the Human Medicines Regulations 2012, introduced during the pandemic were extended in 2022 and 2024, and were due to lapse on 1 April 2026.However, in its response to a consultation on proposals to amend the regulations, published on 20 January 2026, the government confirmed that a change to the law allowing this greater flexibility of vaccine delivery would become permanent.Under the changes, pharmacists — but not pharmacy technicians — will be able to prepare or assemble vaccines away from the registered retail pharmacy or hospital premises, which would enable them to deliver vaccination outreach services.Explaining the changes in the House of Commons on 3 March 2026, health minister Zubir Ahmed said: “That will ensure that community pharmacies can deliver vaccination services off their registered premises, enabling them to deliver targeted outreach programmes.”
