Winter vaccine campaign underway with flu jabs for children and pregnant women

Practice nurses and their teams will begin offering flu jabs for children and pregnant women this week as the NHS winter vaccination programme gets underway.

Other eligible adults will not receive their flu vaccinations until October, however the NHS National Booking System has now opened for eligible individuals to schedule both flu and Covid-19 jabs.

In a move aimed at increasing vaccine uptake among young children, NHS England said school immunisation teams in some areas will also be offering flu vaccinations to two and three year olds at nursery, with plans to expand this rollout more widely in the future.

Dr Amanda Doyle, national director for primary care and community services at NHS England, said the threat of getting ill from flu and Covid-19 was ‘all too real’.

‘Flu and covid vaccines are free to those at greatest risk and teams across the country are working hard to make it as quick and easy as possible to get them via local GP practices, pharmacies, in schools and other community clinics, so please do book an appointment today – it could keep you out of hospital this winter,’ she said.

Health and social care staff will also be offered a flu vaccine from their organisation from 1 October 2025.

Who is eligible for the flu vaccine?

Based on scientific advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) vaccinations are available from September 1 for:

pregnant women

all children aged 2 or 3 years on 31 August 2025

primary school aged children (from Reception to Year 6)

secondary school aged children (from Year 7 to Year 11)

all children in clinical risk groups aged from 6 months to less than 18 years

Up to September 31, all of these groups can receive their flu vaccine in general practice.

Pregnant women are being encouraged to receive their flu vaccine at via maternity services including maternity clinics, antenatal clinics and through their health visitor. Pregnant women can also receive their jab at a pharmacy.

Further information on flu-vaccine roll out will be published at the end of September, Nursing in Practice understands.

Starting from 1 October, eligibility will expand to include:

those aged 65 years and over
those aged 18 years to under 65 years in clinical risk groups (as defined in the Influenza chapter of the Green Book)
those in long-stay residential care homes
carers in receipt of carer’s allowance, or those who are the main carer of an elderly or disabled person
close contacts of immunocompromised individuals
frontline workers in a social care setting without an employer led occupational health scheme including those working for a registered residential care or nursing home, registered domiciliary care providers, voluntary managed hospice providers and those that are employed by those who receive direct payments (personal budgets) or Personal Health budgets, such as Personal Assistants

All these groups will also be able to access at their general practice or local pharmacy.

Source: NHS England

Most school-aged children will be given their flu jabs at school, while younger children can access the vaccine at GP and community clinics if they miss nursery sessions, NHS England said.

A new NHS service enabling community pharmacies to administer flu vaccinations to children aged two to three years will be introduced as a one-season trial From October 1.

Flu vaccinations will remain available until the end of March 2026.

Protection against flu and Covid-19

Adults eligible for both flu and Covid-19 vaccines will be offered to have both vaccinations in a single visit.

Who will be eligible for a Covid-19 vaccination?

Adults aged 75 and over
Residents in older adult care homes
Individuals aged 6 months and older who are immunosuppressed

According to the government, there were more than 300,000 hospital bed days taken up by patients with flu last winter, almost double the previous winter (175,062 in 2023/24) and close to 50% higher than the year before (216,120 in 2022/23).

Care minister Stephen Kinnock, said action was needed to ‘build our defences’ before seasonal illness spread.

‘I urge all eligible families to come forward as soon as possible. Getting vaccinated now means you’ll be protected before peak flu season hits,’ he explained.

The Covid-19 vaccination programme will run from 1 October this year until 31 January 2026.

RSV vaccine also available

The RSV vaccine is also available to pregnant women and adults aged 75 and over.

Over two million people have received the RSV vaccination since its introduction in September last year.

Pregnant women from 28 weeks onwards can receive the RSV vaccine via maternity services, while older adults can access it through their GP practices and at over 120 participating pharmacies in the North West, East of England, and Midlands.

The RSV vaccine can be given alongside Covid-19 jabs but it is recommended to be administered separately from the flu shot for maximum effectiveness.

Also from this week, the government will begin the roll out of its expanded shingles programme for immunosuppressed adults.

From January, children across England will be offered the chickenpox vaccine for the first time from 2026 as part of the routine childhood immunisation schedule.