NHS England reassures contractors that ‘flu vaccine stocks remain available’
NHS England has reassured pharmacy owners that flu vaccine stocks remain available to order as flu hospitalisations surge by 55% in one week and eligible cohorts are urged to get their vaccine.
Where pharmacy owners have exhausted their original flu vaccine stock, flu vaccine supply may still be available from some wholesalers. Alternatively, pharmacy owners can order directly from the manufacturer Sanofi for TIV-HD and CSL Seqirus for aTIV and TIVc.
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The NHS has said it’s facing a ‘worst case scenario’ situation for December amid this ‘super flu’ surge, with thousands of resident doctors potentially going on strike from 17-22 December if the latest offer is not accepted.
An average of 2,660 patients per day were in a hospital bed with flu last week – the highest ever for this time of year and the number of norovirus patients in hospital beds has also risen by 35%, according to the latest figures.
This means there were enough flu patients each day to fill more than three whole hospital trusts, in addition an average of 354 norovirus patients per day.
New monthly figures today show A&E attendances were a record for November at 2.35 million and more than 30,000 higher than November 2024, while there were 48,814 more ambulance incidents compared to last year (802,525 compared to 753,711).
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NHS national medical director, Professor Meghana Pandit said: ‘The numbers of patients in hospital with flu is extremely high for this time of year. Even worse, it continues to rise and the peak is not in sight yet, so the NHS faces an extremely challenging few weeks ahead.
‘NHS staff have pulled out all the stops to vaccinate more people than last year, and I would urge anyone eligible for the vaccine to please book an appointment or visit a walk-in site as soon as possible.
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For non-life-threatening care, people should call NHS 111 or use 111 online, which can direct you to the most appropriate place, and use A&E and 999 for life threatening conditions and serious injuries.
This year, flu season also began unusually early. The Pharmacist spoke to virologist Dr Philip Gould to find out why.
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