Unity Health
We have received our first delivery of the adult flu vaccinations (fortunately we were not impacted by the manufacturer's delay) and have scheduled over 3000 appointments throughout September. We have a few appointments left in Thame on Saturday 18 Sept and Princes Risborough on Wednesday 29 September. Please try to book on-line through patient access where possible. Where possible we will also try to give any eligible patients the pneumonia and shingles vaccine. We will have another delivery during October but the date has not yet been confirmed.
Patients eligible are anyone aged over 50 and anyone aged under 18-50 but with an underlying health condition. Patients aged 2 and 3 and anyone aged under 18 with an underlying health condition will be offered a different flu vaccine (the nasal vaccine); we do not have these yet but will schedule separate clinics as soon as we receive these vaccines
The government has just announced that the covid booster programme will go ahead in the Autumn. This will be for everyone aged over 50 and those 18 to 50 with an underlying health condition and everyone, unless clinically indicated otherwise, will receive either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine (dependent on what is supplied to us) regardless of which vaccine was given for the first two doses. They have also confirmed that the booster dose needs to be given 6 months after the second dose. They also confirmed that the two vaccines can be given together but that this may well not happen since the supply of the covid and flu vaccine from the suppliers might not coincide. If they don’t coincide then patients need a 7 day gap between the two vaccines. We gave some first dose covid vaccines to our patients from 2 December but the main programme started from early January onwards. We are, therefore, planning the booster programme will start as early in October as possible (dependent on covid vaccine supply) and we will contact patients as soon as appointments are available to book. The bulk of our flu vaccines will be completed during September so we are anticipating the majority of the covid vaccination appointments will be just for covid vaccination. Please do continue to attend your flu vaccination appointment if you already have one booked. We are in the process of finalising plans for housebound patients to start early October and will try to give both covid booster and flu vaccine at the same time, where possible. We will provide updates on our website and facebook page as we receive further information from NHSE.
