The NHS winter vaccination programme has delivered more than 10 million flu vaccinations (10,527,579) and over seven million COVID vaccines (7,525,637) to people most at risk across England in just over five weeks after the programme launched, making this the fastest NHS flu vaccine roll out on record.
A record 3 million people have received their flu and COVID vaccines in the same appointment, and this year has also seen the fastest ever rollout of COVID-19 vaccines to care homes – more than 80% (12,000) of care homes have been visited already.
The UK Health Security Agency said: ‘This is a fantastic achievement, and all involved should be justly proud of the work that they are doing to support this, but it is still early days and like the tortoise and the hare, speed is not always the winning factor.
‘So please keep up the momentum and ensure that we get everyone eligible offered these vaccines before we get into the cold, dark days of winter.'
Reminders have been sent to almost one million parents of 2 to 3 year olds to encourage them to book their child’s flu vaccination at their GP practice. Millions of other eligible people are being urged to get their COVID and flu vaccines to reduce the risk of infection, as the number of patients in hospital with COVID hit a five-month high of 4,205 patients in the week commencing 8 October – up 14% on the previous week.
