Over 22 million COVID vaccines delivered by community pharmacy

More than 22 million jabs have been delivered by community pharmacy-led COVID vaccination sites in the past 12 months.

Pharmacies have been central to the Government’s COVID response, and the latest figures from NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) show just how significant a contribution they have made to the vaccination efforts.

As well as the sector providing over 22 million vaccinations, NHSE&I also highlighted a 50% increase in the number of pharmacies delivering COVID boosters compared from October 2021 to January 2022.

The figures were revealed in today’s Primary Care Bulletin from NHSE&I as part of a thank you to community pharmacy teams for their work on the one-year anniversary of the sector delivering COVID-19 vaccinations.

Watch Dr Emily Lawson, Vaccination Lead for NHSE&I’s video thanking community pharmacy staff

PSNC’s Director of NHS Services Alastair Buxton said:

“Community pharmacy teams across the country should be proud of the way they have worked hard to set themselves up as COVID vaccination sites, overcoming obstacles around logistics, staffing and safety. Many drew on their experience of providing flu vaccinations, but of course this endeavour was on a completely different scale.

“Just over a year ago we were fighting for Government recognition of the part community pharmacy could play in administering COVID vaccines, so a year later it is great to see the efforts of the pharmacy vaccination sites being praised by NHSE&I, with recognition of the significant role they have played in the overall programme.

“The performance of the pharmacy vaccination sites and the wider sector’s amazing flu vaccination performance this year helps demonstrate the way in which community pharmacy could play a much larger role in future vaccination programmes, including any need for ongoing COVID vaccinations; PSNC will be arguing for pharmacy’s role in any ongoing programme, pointing to the fantastic achievements of the sector as solid evidence of pharmacy’s value.”

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