Community pharmacies deliver over 22 million Covid-19 jabs in one year

Community pharmacies played a central role in the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, delivering more than 22 million jabs in the past 12 months.

Besides delivering millions of jabs, latest figures from NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) revealed a 50 per cent increase in the number of pharmacies delivering Covid boosters compared from October 2021 to January 2022.

NHSE&I released the data on Friday (January 14) to thank community pharmacy teams for their work during the crisis time.

Lauding the efforts made by community pharmacy teams during the pandemic, Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) director of NHS Services Alastair Buxton said: “Just over a year ago we were fighting for Government recognition of the part community pharmacy could play in administering Covid vaccines, so a year later it is great to see the efforts of the pharmacy vaccination sites being praised by NHSE&I, with recognition of the significant role they have played in the overall programme.

“The performance of the pharmacy vaccination sites and the wider sector’s amazing flu vaccination performance this year helps demonstrate the way in which community pharmacy could play a much larger role in future vaccination programmes, including any need for ongoing Covid vaccinations; PSNC will be arguing for pharmacy’s role in any ongoing programme, pointing to the fantastic achievements of the sector as solid evidence of pharmacy’s value.”