Government’s vaccine uptake plan underfunded

As reported by Practice Index, practice managers caution that the government’s new strategy to simplify vaccine access will falter without sufficient funding for practices, highlighting the importance of their role in community outreach compared to pharmacy efforts

NHS England says it wants to make getting a vaccine as easy as “booking a taxi” using apps. It plans new community outreach and “one stop” vaccine centres.

The Institute of General Practice Management says the plan will not work without the support of practices – and that there is little evidence that undertaking vaccination in community pharmacies has improved uptake. Practices have good “call and recall” systems but do not have resources to do community outreach, it said in a statement.

The new strategy seeks to learn the lessons from the COVID vaccination drive and this autumn’s accelerated effort to ensure flu and COVID vaccine rates were as high as possible. The Institute says the pandemic showed how fast practices could respond to vaccine campaigns, delivering vaccines within two weeks of being asked to undertake campaigns and proving “versatile and effective”.

In a statement signed by directors Kay Keane, Robyn Clark, Jo Wadey and Nicola Davies, it says: “Whilst the report recognises many of the challenges and offers some solutions, it does not address the ongoing devaluation and underfunding of GP services in England.”

Users of the NHS app will also get access to their personal vaccination history, NHS England says. The app has 33 million people registered.

Chief executive Amanda Pritchard said: “Through the NHS app, we’ll make sure booking a jab can be as easy as booking a cab so millions more people can get vaccinated – users will be able to access their full vaccine status in a matter of seconds and book jabs with a simple swipe and tap. And we’ll continue to expand the amazing work of NHS staff, volunteers and partners to introduce even more pop-up sites in the heart of our local communities. So, when you are invited for any of your vaccinations, please do book without delay – it could be lifesaving.”

National director for vaccinations Steve Russell said: “Vaccination is one of the best ways to boost public health, second only to clean water, which is why our vaccine strategy takes vital lessons from our world-leading NHS COVID-19 vaccine programme and the extraordinary efforts of local teams who found innovative ways to reach people during the pandemic and saved thousands of lives. This includes taking vaccines into the heart of communities where we see lower uptake rates, so offering vaccines at pop-up clinics and health hubs in shopping centres, and local schools teams going into parents’ evenings to address barriers to people consenting to their child’s vaccinations.”