Guidance

Vaccinations for care and support workers and people accessing care and support in adult social care

Published 28 October 2026

This section explains how vaccination helps protect people, staff, and visitors from infectious diseases. Keeping up to date with recommended vaccines can reduce the risk of infection, help prevent outbreaks, and lessen the severity of illness, supporting people accessing care and support to stay safe and well.

Key summary

• vaccines protect people from infections such as flu, measles, and hepatitis, and help prevent infections spreading

Call for action

• build a positive vaccination culture by taking part in campaigns and encouraging conversations with people and families
• promote vaccination uptake by checking what vaccines people need
• support access to vaccines by helping people get them when they need them
• record consent and vaccine status and review regularly
• care and support workers are strongly advised to have vaccines to protect themselves, the people they care for, and reduce sickness absence

Vaccination is the safest way to protect ourselves and others from many infections such as respiratory illnesses, measles, or hepatitis. Vaccines reduce the risk of getting a preventable infection by working with the body’s defences to build protection. They can also reduce the severity of infection if and when it happens. They are tested thoroughly to avoid harm and most of the side effects are mild and do not last long. Staying up to date with recommended vaccines, including boosters and seasonal doses, helps reduce the risk and severity of infection.

Adult social care (ASC) providers should encourage open and informed conversations, provide access to reliable information, and support people and care and support workers to make informed decisions about vaccination.

It is important to support people, their families, and staff to access evidence-based information respectfully and in a non-judgemental way. Vaccines protect both care and support workers and the people that they support. Care and support workers and people accessing care are encouraged to receive vaccinations that they are eligible for.

Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and Health and Safety at Work Act, health and care employers, employees and the self-employed have a statutory obligation (a legal duty) to protect as far as is reasonably practical those at work and people affected by their work activity, promote public health, and provide safe, high-quality care.

ASC providers should carry out risk assessments to keep people accessing care and support and care and support workers safe and protected wherever possible through vaccination.

The vaccines a person is eligible for may vary depending on the setting where they live or work, their age, and their level of risk. For example, hepatitis B vaccination may only be recommended for some care and support workers and people accessing care and support. The latest information on vaccines and vaccination procedures for vaccine preventable infectious diseases in the UK can be found on this Immunisation page.

More information on how care settings can manage vaccines is available on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website.

Safeguarding statement

In keeping with the Mental Capacity Act 2005, care and support workers must presume capacity unless assessed otherwise, provide tailored support to enable understanding, and document any capacity assessments clearly. Where a person lacks capacity, decisions or protective measures must be made in their best interests and be proportionate, necessary, and least restrictive, with involvement from relevant professionals and those close to the person wherever appropriate.

Maintaining patient confidentiality

Always ensure any sharing of information about a person who is infectious is only done on a need-to-know basis to ensure the safety of the person, staff caring for them, and of other people who may otherwise be at risk. Any information sharing should be done so in a compassionate but proportionate way maintaining the principles of clinical confidentiality.

Vaccinations for people accessing care and support

Identifying those who need vaccines

A GP or other health care professional can help identify which vaccines a person should receive to help protect them from specific infections by reviewing the person’s medical records.

People with medical conditions that increase their risk of infection should speak to their GP to check whether they are eligible for any additional vaccinations and for advice on whether any of these should be prioritised.

A GP or other healthcare provider will always seek consent before administering vaccinations. Homecare staff may support discussions and record preferences, while healthcare professionals obtain the person’s informed consent and administer the vaccines.

A best interest decision may be needed in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 where a person lacks capacity. There is further advice on consent to vaccination in the Green Book.

The date and time of acceptance and administration, or refusal of the vaccine (with reason), should also be recorded in the social care record.

Supporting access to vaccination

ASC providers, working in collaboration with Primary Care Networks and GPs, should support and enable people to stay up to date with vaccinations in line with the complete routine immunisation schedule. This includes organising access to vaccination services and providing further support to people with learning disabilities, dementia, autism, anxiety, sensory sensitivities, or mobility limitations. Follow the Green Book, guidance, including any requirements for additional doses of vaccines where indicated.

The responsibility for offering and delivering vaccinations rests with the NHS. ASC providers contribute by facilitating access, sharing relevant information and helping people to receive or attend for vaccination as needed. For instance, domiciliary and care home providers can support with booking appointments, setting up reminders, planning transport, recording vaccination status on care plans and escalating any issues or specific information required to the GP or practice nurse as required.

Vaccine status should be reviewed regularly as part of proactive care planning, for instance when onboarding, during annual reviews, after hospital discharge or following significant health changes.

The NHS vaccinations website summarises what vaccines are available for adults, and which groups of people would benefit from having them.

Always check the NHS vaccinations website, the complete routine immunisation schedule, flu vaccination for social care workers and annual flu programme as vaccinations have different age eligibility parameters and these resources will have the most up-to-date information on eligibility.

Vaccinations for care and support workers

Vaccinations for care and support workers are strongly recommended because they:

• reduce the spread of preventable diseases
• protect the people accessing care and support (safeguarding vulnerable adults)
• reduce the severity of disease if infected
• provide protection for care and support workers’ family and loved ones
• keep care and support workers healthy, preventing staff shortages, service disruption, and sick leave.
• reduce hospital admissions and can prevent deaths

All care and support workers are encouraged to be up to date with routine vaccination in line with the wider population. In the UK, these include for instance, tetanus, diphtheria, polio and MMR which can be accessed at any age through their GP practice. It is not too late to get these vaccines if they have been missed before.

It is the responsibility of the employer to offer access to any vaccines that are required to reduce staff members’ work-related vaccine preventable infections risks. The UK national vaccination schedule and incomplete immunisation guidance can be used by health care professionals to provide further information for non-UK born ASC staff who may have  incomplete immunisation status and who may require additional vaccines to bring their status in line with the UK immunisation schedule. General recommendations on vaccines for health and care workers can be found in chapter 12 of the Green Book.

Where a care provider is not able to offer flu vaccination these can be accessed via GP or pharmacy by showing evidence of employment as a care and support worker.

Vaccination in the UK is not mandatory but is instead an individual decision based on the principle of informed consent. Documentation of care and support staff vaccination status is recommended but again is not mandatory. A record of staff vaccinations can be helpful during an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable infection, as it helps UKHSA Health Protection Teams assess the risk to staff and those they are caring for more promptly and therefore supports more effective outbreak management.

Actions for care and support workers

Care and support workers can support vaccination uptake by:

• participating in annual campaigns (UKHSA/NHS) and staying up to date with their own vaccinations to help protect themselves, the people accessing care and support and their own families and loved ones
• promoting uptake within their care setting
• sharing up-to-date NHS information about vaccines to encourage care and support workers and the people they are caring for to take up vaccine offers when they are eligible which then helps protect everyone in the setting
• encouraging people accessing care and support and their families to access vaccination services - as a member of care staff their advice is trusted and listened to

Before international travel (including visiting family and friends in a home country), check official travel advice, with enough advance, the guidance for recommended vaccinations and ensure these are obtained prior to departure. Travel vaccinations may be available through GP services, travel clinics, pharmacies or other local providers. Check local arrangements and NHS travel vaccination guidance.