Pharmacies and general practice had ‘comparable’ RSV vaccination delivery, pilot shows

Delivery of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine by community pharmacies was ‘comparable’ to GP practice efforts, a pilot programme has found.

The UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) evaluation of the RSV early adopter programme – which tested the delivery of RSV vaccinations through community pharmacies in the East of England – found that general practice and pharmacies had ‘comparable delivery capacity’.

The 37 participating pharmacies delivered approximately 12% of all RSV vaccinations (8,900 vaccine doses) across pilots sites in NHS Mid and South Essex and NHS Suffolk and North East Essex ICB integrated care boards (ICBs).

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The evaluation found that the mean number of RSV vaccines delivered per pharmacy of 241 doses was closely aligned with the GP practice number of 266 doses per practice, suggesting comparable overall delivery capacity across settings. But it also found 'there was immense variability in individual site-level throughput for community pharmacy'.

Overall most of the doses (88%) given during the pilot period from 1 October 2024 to 20 February 2025, continued to be delivered in the GP sites and total vaccine coverage in the region reached 55.3%.

The evaluation found that 96% of vaccinations in both GP and community pharmacy settings were administered to people from White ethnic backgrounds which raised questions about the programme’s ‘reach and effectiveness’, the UKHSA said.

It also reported that some community pharmacies ‘lacked capacity or readiness to deliver the vaccination service’ and a number had to withdraw from the process.

Sites that adopted the pilot earlier were supported by several ‘enablers’ including site-readiness visits, dedicated regional support, communication materials, flexible booking options, and peer-learning webinars.

The report said: ‘These findings suggest that while the pharmacy model is feasible, it relied on intensive support that may not be easily scaled. Future expansion would require considerable strategic investment and planning to replicate these enablers and to address systemic barriers to ensure sustainable delivery.’

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In response to the evaluation, Malcolm Harrison, chief executive of the Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) said: ‘The pilot highlights the considerable potential of community pharmacy. Achieving this level of impact on short notice is impressive.

‘Even greater benefits could be realised with expanded commissioning, a longer lead-in, and time for services to fully embed.

‘Pharmacy-led vaccination programmes have the potential to deliver substantial benefits, and the government should build on the impact demonstrated in this pilot and commission community pharmacies to administer a whole range of NHS vaccinations.’

The UKHSA made several recommendations in its evaluation including:

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• Strengthen equity-focused site selections, prioritising pharmacies serving more socioeconomically and ethnically diverse populations;
• Reduce dependence on intensive enablers to assess affordability in the event of any proposed national scale up;
• Ensure participating pharmacies offer vaccination services outside of traditional working hours;
• Establish methodology to determine whether the pharmacy model is expanding access to underserved population groups, or simply shifting existing service users from GPs to a different setting;
• Assess cost effectiveness;
• Implement standardised training and quality metrics for participating pharmacies.

UKHSA added that the expansion of the RSV vaccination programme to 200 community pharmacies in 2025/26 under a National Enhanced Service (NES) framework is a ‘critical opportunity’ to address the issues raised in this pilot.

From this April adults aged 80 and over, as well as all residents in care homes for older adults, will become eligible for the NHS RSV vaccine following updated advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) which expands the existing programme, which has offered routine vaccination to people turning 75 since September 2024.