Community pharmacies in the UK to offer private Covid vaccination service

From 1 April, people in England and Scotland can pop into a local independent pharmacy to get a Covid jab for £45.

Pharmadoctor, a company which provides clinical service packages to pharmacists, has announced the launch of the UK’s first private Covid vaccination service via its nationwide network of partner community pharmacies.

For the first time, people who are eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine (those aged 12 years and over) will be able to get the shots from their local independent pharmacy by paying as little as £45 per jab, the company said.

The delivery of the new service is expected to start by 1st April at the latest by “thousands of pharmacists” using the Pharmadoctor eTool.

To encourage pharmacists to sign up early to provide the service, the company is offering its package at half-price until 31st March.

As reported by The Guardian, appointments for the private jabs will be offered in 27 pharmacies in England and Scotland initially, with the company planning to expand the service to more pharmacies across the UK.

Graham Thoms, Chief Executive Officer at PharmaDoctor, said: “Our new private Covid vaccination pharmacy service follows other private respiratory vaccination services that we’ve pioneered in pharmacy over the last 20 years including the UK’s first pharmacy flu, pneumonia and RSV vaccination services.”

Pharmadoctor’s founder and Digital Director, Joaquim Pereira said that the rich data insights generated by the Pharmadoctor eTool will help public health organisations to get a clear picture of private Covid vaccinations in their area of the country and on a national level.

Pharmacists at the Dears Pharmacy and Travel Clinic Group in Scotland are excited to start offering the new service in partnership with Pharmadoctor.

Its owner Superintendent Pharmacist Mayhar Nickko-amiry said: “Patients ask us all the time when Covid jabs are going to be available privately, so we started taking their details with the promise that we’d be in touch when the vaccination service is available.

“We are now delighted to be able to get back in touch with our patients and invite them into our pharmacies to receive their vaccinations.”

Thoms told The Guardian that the initial vaccine on offer would be the updated Novavax jab, which targets the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, but more vaccines will be added into the service as they become licensed for use in the private market.