Please find below information regarding the national flu immunisation programme update. As you will already appreciate Government Guidance is continually changing at a fast pace, therefore Birmingham LMC will be unable to update any links on a regular basis and would respectfully ask that any practice who wish to continue to use this information ensure that these links are updated and validated against the most recent advice.
The national flu immunisation programme 2020 to 2021: update
Details of the 2020-21 flu immunisation programme were announced this week in a joint letter from the CMO for England, the Public Health England Medical Director and Director for Public Health, and the NHSE/I medical director. The letter outlines that this year as part of the wider planning for winter, and subject to contractual negotiations, flu vaccination will be additionally offered to:
- household contacts of those on the Shielded Patient List – specifically individuals who expect to share living accommodation with a shielded person on most days over the winter and therefore for whom continuing close contact is unavoidable.
- children of school Year 7 age in secondary schools (those aged 11 on 31 August 2020).
- health and social care workers employed through Direct Payment (personal budgets) and/or Personal Health Budgets, such as Personal Assistants, to deliver domiciliary care to patients and service users.
It is intended to further extend the vaccine programme in November and December to include the 50 to 64-year-old age group but this will be subject to vaccine supply and notification about this is likely in September. It is planned that this extension is phased to practices to prioritise those in at risk groups first. While we welcome that the detail has finally been made available to those delivering the programme and now allows practices to do some further detailed planning, we are urgently seeking confirmation that all PPE will be provided for practices, guidance on delivery models (although this will be up to individual practices (working with their localities) to decide), and we acknowledge that this is going to be the most challenging flu programme there needs to be support, resources and leniency so that practices can prioritise the flu programme over this uncertain period. Practices should be signed up to the PPE portal, which can be delivered within 48 hours, to ensure regular supplies of PPE in advance of the winter and flu campaign. More information is available on the DHSC PPE portal guidance page and the portal customer service team can be reached on 0800 876 6802 for enquiries or registration support