Flu Vaccination Advanced Service
The Flu Vaccination Advanced Service is commissioned on a seasonal basis, each year from autumn through to March.
Please refer to the Community Pharmacy England (CPE) Flu Vaccination Hub here for the latest news and updates on the service.
2025/26 Service
The annual flu letter was published early February 2025 – see here.
Key highlights are:
- There are no changes to the eligible cohorts for the 2025/26 season.
- From 1st September 2025 and in line with the 2024/25 season, pharmacies will only be able to vaccinate pregnant women. Then, from 1st October 2025, vaccination of the other adult cohorts will commence, (as confirmed by NHS England system letter).
- There are changes to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommended adult flu vaccines for the 2025/26 season.
- Reinforced advice regarding the restriction on the use of second line vaccines and to place orders with more than one manufacturer to ensure receipt of sufficient stock.
The service specification was published July 2025 – see here.
| A key change for this season includes a requirement to seek permission from the commissioner prior to undertaking vaccination off the pharmacy premises. Please complete and submit the following MS form: https://forms.office.com/e/JxXMc2pSBE – you must be logged into your NHSmail to access the form.
Please note a separate form is required for each location, with the exception of housebound. If you are intending to deliver vaccination to housebound patients, please complete one form and tick the housebound cohort.
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Flu Vaccines for 2025/26
Summary table of which inactivated influenza vaccines to offer (by age)
Key:
Inactivated influenza vaccine suspension in a pre-filled syringe, including:
- adjuvanted inactivated influence vaccine (aIIV) ▼
- cell-cultured inactivated influence vaccine (IIVc) ▼
- egg-cultured inactivated influence vaccine (IIVe)
- recombinant inactivated influence vaccine (IIVr) ▼
- high-dose inactivated influence vaccine (IIV-HD) ▼
To receive payment for flu vaccination and reimbursement of flu vaccine the flu vaccines outlined above for the appropriate cohorts must be used and administered in line with the announced and authorised cohorts. Commissioners will actively recover any payments made for the incorrect vaccine administered.
First line vaccines should always be ordered for a given cohort.
Once the vaccination campaign has started, if providers need additional stock, second line vaccines should only be ordered if first line options are not available to order. Where a provider does not have a first line vaccine in stock, patients should be directed to an alternative provider who has stock of a first line vaccine or told to rebook when the new stock is available.
Vaccination with a second line vaccine should only be considered on an exceptional basis where there is a valid reason why the patient may not return for a further appointment.
Claiming Payment
All payments must be claimed monthly via the NHSBSA Manage Your Service (MYS) portal.
Claims for payment should be submitted within one month of, and no later than three months from the claim period for the activity provided. Claims which relate to work completed more than three months after the claim period in question, will not be paid.
Briefing Documents and Resources
- Service Specification – 1st September 2025 to 31st March 2026
- Annual Flu Letter 25/26
- Flu Vaccine Poster 2025-2026 (useful poster which has information on the different types of flu vaccines and the clinical risk group they apply to)
- Information for Healthcare Practitioners Flu Vaccination Programme 2025 to 2026
- The national flu immunisation programme for 2025 to 2026 slide set can be downloaded here.
- Flu Vaccines Marketed in the UK 25/26
- Chapter 19 of the Immunisation Against Infectious Disease, “The Green Book”, can be downloaded here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/influenza-the-green-book-chapter-19.
Pharmacy Team Resources
Refer to the Community Pharmacy England Flu Vaccination Hub here for additional guidance and resources for pharmacy teams. This includes a checklist to help pharmacy owners and their teams to prepare for and to provide the service and can also be found below.
Download checklist for the NHS Flu Vaccination Service
Flu Immunisation e-Learning Programme – an interactive flu immunisation e-learning programme, written by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and produced by Health Education England’s e-Learning for Healthcare, is available for anyone involved in delivering the flu immunisation programme. See here.
Service Delivery Resources – Promoting the Service to Patients
Leaflet – Flu Vaccination; Who Should Have It And Why
Paper copies of this leaflet are available free to order or download.
Accessible formats such as Audio, Braille, BSL video and Large Print are also available.
Translations of this leaflet are available to download: Albanian, Arabic, Be
Refer to the Community Pharmacy England Flu Vaccination Hub here for more service delivery resources.
Joint Flu Collaboration
Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire regularly liaises with the Local Medical Committees (LMCs) within West Yorkshire, and as in previous years, we have offered to collaborate with the LMCs to produce a joint LMC/LPC flu letter to encourage general practices and community pharmacies to work together in supporting each other’s flu campaign.
Please see below joint flu letters that have been agreed for 2025/26:
Kirklees – CPWY Kirklees LMC Joint Flu Letter – 2025/26
Leeds – CPWY Leeds LMC Joint Flu Letter – 2025/26
Frequently Asked Questions
The Community Pharmacy England website is a great source of information and resources for pharmacy teams. This includes a useful Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and answers page which are updated on an ongoing basis:
Last Updated: 11th September 2025
