Winter vaccinations were ‘absolute chaos’ health committee hears

Misinformation about patient eligibility for the Covid jab caused ‘absolute chaos’ during winter vaccinations, said pharmacy owner and Community Pharmacy England (CPE) committee member, Fin McCaul.

During an evidence session in Parliament last week (11 February), the Health and Social Care Committee heard that Mr McCaul had to organise a team of six people just to deal with abuse and complaints from patients who were expecting to be vaccinated despite being ineligible.

He said: ‘There are some learnings that we need to take forward [from this]: clear, concise information in a timely manner, as well as booking systems not allowing people to book when they are not eligible.’

The session formed part of the Committee’s inquiry into the UK’s Vaccination Strategy and heard evidence from public health experts, NHS leaders and system partners.

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A survey by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) in January found that 88% of pharmacies faced verbal or physical intimidation from patients who were ineligible for the Covid vaccine; some pharmacists even reported being pushed or spat at.

And more than half of an average pharmacy’s Covid vaccine bookings were made by patients who were not eligible but were able to book using a ‘fundamentally flawed national NHS system’ at the end of last year.

Mr McCaul told MPs that although pharmacies were being used ‘quite well’ for flu and Covid vaccinations, they could be doing much more.

He highlighted the huge uptake of both flu and Covid vaccinations among ethnic minority groups and in deprived areas through community pharmacy

And he said he wanted to see all vaccinations moved into community pharmacy as a ‘core resource centre’, freeing up space in GP practices and to enable the move of secondary care work to primary care.

He said patients visit pharmacies ‘12 times more than GPs’, making them ideal vaccination hubs.

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Mr McCaul also warned MPs that pharmacies were limited by:

• Underinvestment in primary care;
• Lack of additional payments for pharmacies vaccinating housebound patients or going into mosques and churches;
• Poor data sharing.

After the evidence session, Mr McCaul said: The Committee hearing reinforced a simple truth: pharmacies are already key to reaching patients who might otherwise miss out on vaccinations.

‘We saw strong engagement in deprived and minority communities this winter despite major system issues. With better data, investment and planning, pharmacy can make a major difference to national vaccination goals.’

CPE continues to push for national action to unlock the full potential of pharmacy-led vaccination.

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Yesterday (17 February), a new national childhood immunisation campaign was launched to reverse the decline in childhood vaccination rates.

This comes as almost 100 new measles cases have been confirmed in England since the start of the year, and childhood vaccination rates remain ‘well below’ the 95% uptake target that the World Health Organization (WHO) says is needed to prevent outbreaks.