Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

Boots UK's chief pharmacist has been encouraging people to get a flu vaccination by the end of November to help protect themselves, their loved ones and the NHS this festive season. Flu cases in the UK are usually highest in the winter months, from December to March. This year, the UK has seen a rise in cases earlier than usual, and therefore Claire Nevinson, superintendent pharmacist at Boots, reminds people that it is even more important to get protected early to help reduce the risk of spreading the virus due to increased mixing at Christmas parties and family get togethers. Approximately 33 million people are eligible for the free NHS flu jab, including those over 50 years of age, pregnant women and those with medical conditions such as diabetes or heart disease. The pharmacy multiple says it offers the winter flu jab service, which is suitable for those eligible for the free NHS flu jab as well as privately, adding that it has already administered over one million flu vaccinations this season. Ms Nevinson explains: "December is a time to get together with friends and family to celebrate the month's festivities. It's a good idea to plan ahead to ensure you have your flu jab, and your COVID-19 booster vaccination if you are eligible, if you've not had them already, this the best way to protect yourself and reduce the risk of passing the viruses to others.

Covid-19 vaccine makers are shifting gears and planning for a smaller, more competitive booster shot market after delivering as many doses as fast as they could over the last 18 months. Executives at the biggest Covid vaccine makers including Pfizer and Moderna said they believe most people who wanted to get vaccinated against Covid have already done so - more than five billion people worldwide. In the coming year, most Covid vaccinations will be booster shots, or first inoculations for children, which are still gaining regulatory approvals around the world, they said. Pfizer, which makes its shot with Germany's BioNTech and Moderna still see a major role for themselves in the vaccine market even as overall demand declines. Upstart US vaccine maker Novavax and Germany's CureVac, which is working with GlaxoSmithKline, are developing vaccines they hope to target at the booster market. The roles of AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, whose shots have been less popular or effective, are expected to decline in this market.

Well Pharmacy is urging those eligible to take up the offer of a further Covid booster jab this spring. Adults aged 75 years and over and anyone over 5 years old and are immunosuppressed - such as those who are undergoing chemotherapy or have had an organ transplant - are entitled to have a further Covid booster jab from mid-April, said one of the UK's largest community pharmacy chains. Taking part in the vaccination programme again, Well Pharmacy is encouraging people to book another booster as soon as they are contacted by the NHS - which should be at least six months after their previous booster. The national booking site for those eligible opens this week. The jabs have been updated since the vaccines were introduced to now target newer strains of Covid-19, Well said in a press release issued on Wednesday, 5 April. Thousands of people are still testing positive for Covid each week according to Government data, and - while hospitalisations are down - a large number of people are still being hospitalised with Covid, so getting jabbed is as important as ever. And the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recently confirmed that hospital admissions last autumn highlighted that the risk of becoming seriously ill from coronavirus was noticeably higher in people over 75.

It is not sustainable to give Covid-19 booster shots every three to six in the long term, Britain's chief scientific adviser said on Tuesday (January 4), even though the booster rollout is needed in the short term to combat the Omicron variant. "It would be a situation that isn't tenable to say everyone's going to need to be having another vaccine every three or six months. "That's not the long-term view of where this goes to," Patrick Vallance said at a news conference, adding that annual booster shots against Covid-19 might be necessary, similar to flu shots.

British health officials on Wednesday (September 28) warned that increased circulation of flu and a resurgence in Covid-19 could lead to a difficult winter that increases pressure on the already stretched NHS. Warnings over a possible "twindemic" of Covid-19 and flu have been issued each winter since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, but Covid restrictions that limited social contact have meant flu levels stayed low. However, the government ended coronavirus restrictions earlier this year, meaning that social contact rates have returned to near pre-pandemic norms while immunity to flu is relatively low. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that given the risk it was important those eligible took up vaccines against Covid and flu. "There are strong indications we could be facing the threat of widely circulating flu, lower levels of natural immunity due to less exposure over the last three winters and an increase in Covid-19 circulating," said Susan Hopkins, chief medical advisor at UKHSA.

The community pharmacy staff in Scotland will not be required to work for a minimum of five full days if they test positive for Covid-19. The Scottish health secretary Humza Yousaf has clarified that health and social care employees, including community pharmacists, will have to follow the guidance on managing staff with symptoms of a respiratory infection, or a positive Covid-19 test. While responding to Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Scottish Labour Party) written parliamentary question, Humza said, "If they work with patients or service users in face-to-face settings, they can return to work if they have had two consecutive negative LFD test results (taken at least 24 hours apart)." Jackie asked the Scottish government, "what its position is on the actions of Well Pharmacy, in light of reports that the company is insisting that staff who test positive for COVID-19 continue to work when they are in patient-facing roles and dealing with clinically vulnerable people?" The Pharmacists' Defence Association said: "This means that Well pharmacy will have to change their policy in Scotland and no longer allow Covid positive staff to work in their pharmacies."

Community pharmacists in England have slammed the government's latest decision to reduce the number of people who get a free winter flu jab in the 2022-23 flu season, as concerns related to Covid-19 still exist. This follows a letter from the NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) to clinicians, which stated that the flu vaccination service in 2022-23 will be offered to patient groups eligible in line with pre-pandemic recommendations. The eligibility was widened significantly after the pandemic struck in 2020 to help reduce the death toll from the Covid-19. With the change in place people aged 50-64 and schoolchildren aged 11-15 will not be eligible to receive the free jabs on the NHS next winter, pushing millions of people to pay for their jabs privately. It further recommended that vaccination for frontline healthcare workers and social care workers should be provided by employers as part of the organisation's policy to prevent the transmission of infection.

NHS England has urged the pharmacy owners to continue to voluntarily submit New Medicine Service (NMS) quarterly summary data to the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) for Quarter 4 (Q4) 2022/23 (January to March 2023). Community Pharmacy England have agreed with NHS England that the quarterly returns will continue to be on a voluntary basis, with Q4 (January to March 2023) as the second quarter to be reported. It has thanked all the members that submitted NMS quarterly summary data for Quarter 3. The mandatory requirement to submit this data has been suspended since 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "NHS England wants to continue collection of the quarterly returns to provide baseline data to support a long-term evaluation that will be conducted as part of ongoing work to expand the scope of NMS," said Community Pharmacy England. Voluntary submissions can be made via the NHSBSA website, where an updated reporting spreadsheet is also available for head offices to use who are able to submit data on behalf of multiple pharmacies.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) will jointly launch a new study to gather data on COVID-19 this winter. The Winter COVID-19 Infection Study (WCIS) will run from November 2023 to March 2024, involving up to 200,000 participants, UKHSA has said on Monday (October 2). UKHSA previously commissioned the Coronavirus Infection Survey (CIS), conducted by the ONS in collaboration with scientific study leaders from Oxford University, analysing more than 11.5 million swab tests and 3 million blood tests from April 2020 to March 2023. Meanwhile, the Winter CIS study involves conducting up to 32,000 lateral flow tests weekly, providing vital insights into COVID-19 prevalence in the broader community. The sample will be structured to broadly reflect key population characteristics.

Recent uptake of COVID-19 vaccine booster doses in Europe has been "rather disappointing," an official said on Thursday (November 24), amid concerns that protection against severe cases of the disease could weaken during the winter. The European average rate of re-vaccination, or receiving booster doses, was only 29 per cent in the groups of people considered to be at highest risk, such as the elderly and immunocompromised. "It is of concern that those most at risk of hospitalisation or severe COVID are not adequately protected," the European Medicines Agency's head of health threats and vaccines strategy, Marco Cavaleri, told a news briefing. Though there have not been major increases in COVID-19 case rates in recent weeks, Cavaleri said that could change during the colder winter months.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced that free COVID-19 lateral flow tests will be supplied through community pharmacies for at-risk groups. The service will operate from 6 November for patients aged over 12 years who are at risk of developing severe COVID-19 symptoms. Community pharmacies that have participated in this new initiative will be paid £4 plus VAT for each box of five lateral flow device test kits provided. Alastair Buxton, Director of NHS services at Community Pharmacy England said: "This is not going to be a high-volume service, but community pharmacy teams are well placed to provide LFD test kits to eligible patients with them having made over 25.5 million supplies of COVID-19 LFD test kits in 2021/22.

All children aged five to 11 in England will be offered a Covid-19 vaccine, the government said on Wednesday (February 16) - following similar announcements in the rest of the UK. The move, coming nearly two months after British regulators approved Pfizer and BioNTech's shot for use among the age group, sees Britain following the lead of the United States, the European Union and other countries. It has only been vaccinating at-risk under-12s and those who live with immuno-suppressed people, using a lower-dose formulation of the jab that was found to be "safe and effective". However, health secretary Sajid Javid - who has responsibility for England only - said he had now accepted guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which advises UK health departments, to expand the rollout. "The NHS will prepare to extend this non-urgent offer to all children during April so parents can, if they want, take up the offer to increase protection against potential future waves of Covid-19 as we learn to live with this virus," he said in a statement.

The NHS England and Improvement has announced the emergency provisions introduced during pandemic to provide flexible opening hours for pharmacy contractors end today. The flexibilities were enacted in March 2020 when changes to the Pharmaceutical Services (Advanced and Enhanced Services and Emergency Declaration) Directions 2020 were made following a declaration of emergency at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Since March 2020, the flexibilities have permitted temporary opening hours and closures during a specified period due to a genuine Covid-19 related emergency. NHS England and Improvement has advised pharmacy contractors that the emergency declaration will not be extended further and will expire on 31 March 2022. Pharmacy contractors will therefore no longer have the option to close pharmacies within their agreed contracted hours with the NHS.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved a second "bivalent" vaccine as a Covid-19 booster. The updated booster vaccine made by Pfizer/BioNTech, targeting two coronavirus variants, has been approved for use in individuals aged 12 years and above. In each dose of the booster vaccine, 'Comirnaty bivalent Original/Omicron', half of the vaccine (15 micrograms) targets the original virus strain and the other half (15 micrograms) targets Omicron (BA.1). Dr June Raine, MHRA chief executive said: "I am pleased to announce that we now have a second approved vaccine for the UK Autumn booster programme. The clinical trial of the Pfizer/BioNTech bivalent vaccine showed a strong immune response against the Omicron BA.1 variant as well as the original strain. Bivalent vaccines are helping us to meet the challenge of an ever-evolving virus, to help protect people against Covid-19 variants. We have in place a comprehensive safety surveillance strategy for all UK-approved Covid-19 vaccines, and this will include the updated booster we approved today."

Community pharmacy is at the heart of one of the most ambitious clinical trials ever undertaken by the UK's primary care network, says senior academic pharmacist Professor Mahendra Patel. The PANORAMIC trial has been designed to rapidly evaluate several antiviral treatments over time that could help people at high risk of Covid-19 recover sooner, prevent the need for hospital admission and so ease the burden on the NHS. The Platform Adaptive trial of NOvel antiviRals for eArly treatMent of Covid-19 In the Community (PANORAMIC) is a national priority trial led by Oxford University's Primary Care Clinical Trials Unit. Lead investigators say the study will enable early and rapid testing of novel antiviral agents and help repurpose existing drugs against Covid-19. As soon as the trial is set up for delivery, it will be open to eligible participants from across the UK. Prof Patel, a key member of the trial's core team, said: "I'm really excited with this news and also by the prospect that there is a huge potential for pharmacy teams to help play a vital role in supporting this highly ambitious trial, as they have with the PRINCIPLE trial, now the world's largest community based clinical trial for Covid19."

Prime minister Boris Johnson announced on Wednesday (January 19) that restrictions re-imposed in England last month would be lifted by from next Thursday (January 27). In the latest development, the government has decided to end the guidance on working from home, asking employers to make adequate arrangements to return safely to work. From the start of next Thursday, mandatory certification based on vaccines and tests will end, however, organisations can still choose to use the NHS Covid Pass voluntarily. Besides, the legal mandate to wear face masks will go away from next week. Making a statement to the House of Commons on Covid-19, he said that infection levels are falling in England mainly because of the country's "extraordinary booster campaign". He noted more than 36 million Covid-19 booster jabs had been delivered, with over 90 percent of over-60s now given a third dose. "Our scientists believe it is likely that the Omicron wave has now peaked nationally," Johnson added, while cautioning "the pandemic is not over". "I encourage everyone across the country to continue with all the cautious behaviours that we know help to keep each everybody safe."

The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has urged pharmacists working in Covid-19 vaccination role to report any concerns about the needles and syringes supplied with the Moderna Spikevax Bivalent vaccine. The association has heard reports of bending when vaccinators pierce the top of the vial containing the Covid-19 vaccine doses, needles falling out during manipulation and appearing to be bent even before removal from the packaging. PDA has advised its members who are working in a Covid-19 vaccination role "to report any concerns via the Yellow Card medical device reporting system, and to keep up to date with NHS clinical updates for ongoing information and guidance." Current advice from the NHS includes sharing of video and poster resources (available on FutureNHS) which have been produced by the supplier to support the introduction of the new administration needles and syringes for Spikevax Bivalent. This is following a switch from BD Flu+ 23G x 25mm 1ml syringe combined needle and syringe (CNS) to the Owen Mumford Unifine Safety Retractable Needle 25G x 25mm & 1ml Syringe.

Britain's booster programme for Covid-19 vaccinations is set to be expanded following advice from scientists. The government's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said today (November 15) that all healthy adults aged 40-49 should be offered a booster, six months after their second dose. Previously, the booster programme was limited to those aged 50 and over, and the clinically vulnerable. So far, some 12.6 million people have had a booster dose. The latest advice comes after the UK Health Security Agency released data from a real-world study which found the booster gave over 90 per cent protection against symptomatic Covid-19 for people aged 50 years and older.

In a recent announcement the government has mandated frontline NHS staff to be vaccinated against Covid-19, keeping people working in community pharmacies out of this purview. In its response to the announcement, General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has urged "pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to get Covid-19 and flu vaccinations at the earliest opportunity, unless they are medically exempt." GPhC, which regulates pharmacists and other staff in community pharmacies, said that vaccinated healthcare workers can better protect their family, colleagues and patients. During the government consultation on making Covid-19 jab a condition of deployment for frontline health and care workers in England, GPhC had said: "Getting vaccinated is clearly something that should be done by all pharmacy professionals, although we do not support making vaccination a mandatory legal requirement."

Has the government in England learned nothing from the Covid-19 pandemic? Nigel Swift, Managing Director of Rowlands Pharmacy, part of Numark, the UK's largest pharmacy membership association, asks reflecting on the disorderly launch of this year's flu and Covid booster vaccination program as evidence to the contrary. "Community pharmacies play a crucial role in ensuring eligible individuals can easily access their free NHS flu and Covid vaccinations," Swift said, adding that delivering this essential service necessitates pharmacy staff allocating time for preparation and appointment scheduling. "Just a few weeks ago, NHSE informed us that the vaccination program would be postponed until October, prompting pharmacies to plan accordingly and notify patients," he said. "However, NHSE has now reversed its decision and set the program to commence on Sept. 11. Pharmacy recommended an earlier start, but NHSE opted for a delay instead, resulting in avoidable problems." On Aug. 30, NHSE announced plans to move up the start of the autumn vaccination drive in England to September 11, deviating from the initial October schedule, citing concerns about a new Covid-19 variant.