The role of community pharmacies in the ongoing MenB vaccination has been lauded by some members of the parliament (MPs) during a Westminster Hall debate on vaccination rates in England.
The pharmacies have already provided almost a quarter of a million MenB jabs in just six weeks.
During the debate, the MPs expressed concern about the fall in the uptake of routine vaccination programmes, especially the routine childhood programmes that has fallen short of the 95% target set by the World Health Organization.
Some MPs were concerned about the inequalities in vaccine uptake alongside recent measles outbreaks, suggesting that there is a need to rebuild confidence and access.
Ahead of the debate, Community Pharmacy England had briefed a number of its MP supporters, with several speaking during the debate.
Danny Beales, a member of the Health Select Committee and MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, called upon the government and the NHS to make better use of community pharmacies due to their strong community connection.
Fellow Health Select Committee member Ben Coleman, who has been making efforts to encourage local commissioning of vaccinations through pharmacy, said: “All families go to pharmacies, so it seemed an obvious thing to do”.
Coleman lamented that the UK had lost its measles elimination status, London had the lowest childhood vaccination coverage in the country, and "children were being hospitalised by a disease that is entirely preventable."
"I am not saying that pharmacies are silver bullets - the Health and Social Care Committee also heard arguments about strengthening school-age immunisation services — but it should not be either/or. It should be schools, GPs and pharmacies," he said.
CPE's Director of NHS Services, Alastair Buxton, said: “Community pharmacy teams have delivered almost a quarter of a million MenB vaccinations in just a matter of weeks, helping young people get protected before they start university or further education.
"At a time when MPs are rightly concerned about falling vaccination rates, this shows the huge public health value of making vaccination easy to access through local pharmacies. Pharmacy teams stand ready to support more vaccination programmes, but they need sustainable commissioning and planning so this access can be built into the system for the long term.”
