NHS England announced to healthcare professionals last Wednesday that the restrictions on free vaccination will return to the age of pensioners after this winter’s booster campaign. He said he was following the advice of the Joint Committee on Immunization and Immunization (JCVI) and the Ministry of Health.
Children between the ages of 11 and 15 will also be excluded from the list of patients eligible for the free jab.
The NHS said, ” [flu vaccine] Inventory will be centrally procured by the Ministry of Health for next season. This is what happened this winter.
Healthcare workers have accused the government of creating “hoof policies” and “strange medical choices” during periods of high living costs and low immunity to the flu due to pandemic restrictions.
“The general consensus was that it was a retrograde step,” Raj Matharu, chairman of the London pharmacy, said at a recent London-wide medical expert conference.
Read more: 50-65 seconds free flu jab scrap – Javid drop supply
He and others believe that this move will affect the huge backlog of more than 6 million patients currently facing the NHS following the coronavirus pandemic, which will be a problem until next winter. I promise to continue to be.
Matal said: “They haven’t seen the opportunity cost of this at all. Therefore, the amount of money that can be saved by not vaccination for people aged 50-64 years is [flu] The case that occurs.
“Immune to the flu is already weak, so after making that decision, it can affect the backlog.”
Mike Hewitson, a supervisory pharmacist who is one of the many who currently have to make changes, commented:
Similar to the government’s proposal to raise the age of free prescriptions from 60 to 65, there are concerns that the worst people in society may be forced to choose between medical care and diet.
“Private flu vaccination prices are somewhere between £ 9-12 and that won’t happen,” Matal said, adding that he knows patients who can’t afford paracetamol or ibuprofen. rice field.
He commented: It’s like a hoof policy. “
The move also seems to be contrary to previous claims by the Secretary of State and his predecessor Matt Hancock that preventive care is better and cheaper than therapeutic care.
In a speech to the Royal College of Physicians on Tuesday, Javid estimated that the NHS spends 40% of its budget on treating preventable conditions, saying that “prevention needs to be incorporated into the NHS.”
“It was a false economic choice to make this kind of reduction with these preventive services, as much as a strange medical choice,” Hewitson said.
He added: “The government and the NHS understand that spending should be prioritized if they think they can get the best return on their investment, but the preventive service is NHS’s Cinderella service. , No one wants to invest. “
The NHS said it was still their intention to meet the record levels of uptake seen this winter in the flu season next year, but Hewitson described this as “magical thinking.” ..
He states: “I find it difficult to understand how the service will be available in the same way with more barriers.”
Matal said his immunity to the flu was “already low” thanks to pandemic regulations that have stopped the spread of the flu in recent years, raising “real worries” that the regulations have now been relaxed.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, along with living with the Covid strategy, “is right to bring other vaccination programs such as the flu back to pre-pandemic levels.
“In 2022/23, the NHS influenza vaccine will be provided to eligible patients in line with pre-pandemic recommendations, as stated in the NHS’s reimbursement letter to clinicians this week.
“I am very grateful to all the healthcare and social care staff for contributing to the success of the flu campaign last year.”
