Vaccine update: issue 362, August 2025, flu special

Q: Patient Group Directions

Patient Group Directions ( PGDs ) for the 2025 to 2026 influenza season are available via the main webpage. These include a PGD for live attenuated influenza vaccine (including an addendum that was published on 8 August 2025) and a separate inactivated influenza vaccine PGD . Practitioners must not use these PGDs until they have been authorised in Section 2. This is a legal requirement in accordance with the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 . Practitioners should follow local policy/procedures to access authorised PGD documents. There is a separate PGD for the community pharmacy seasonal influenza for children aged 2 and 3 years vaccine service for this season which will be available via the main webpage.

Q: Communications toolkit

UK Health Security Agency ( UKHSA ), NHS England and Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) have produced a communications winter toolkit which provides information on the flu vaccination programme for 2025 to 2026, as well as RSV and other respiratory viruses that spread more easily in winter. This will include public-facing messages. It aims to support stakeholders to explain and promote the vaccination programmes to those eligible. It contains background information, statistics, important messages, suggested social media copy, social media assets and links to useful information. The toolkit will be available from the Campaign Resource Centre (https://campaignresources.dhsc.gov.uk/campaigns/vaccinations/). A separate toolkit has been prepared by NHS England to support health and social care organisations to increase staff uptake of flu vaccinations. This contains materials, key messages and other useful information and is available on the Campaign Resource Centre .

Question 1

Timing of the flu vaccination

Accepted Answer

Based on the evidence that the flu vaccine’s effectiveness can wane over time in adults the JCVI advised moving the start of the programme for most adults to the beginning of October and this delayed start date occurred for the first time last season (2024 to 2025). For this season (2025 to 2026) NHS England have confirmed a start date of 1 October. It is preferable to vaccinate most adults closer to the time when the flu virus is likely to circulate (which typically peaks in December or January), as this will provide optimal protection during the highest risk period. The majority of the vaccinations will need to be completed by the end of November.

Protection from the vaccine lasts much longer in children, therefore the priority is to start vaccinating all children (including those in clinical risk groups) from 1 September, or as soon as vaccine becomes available, both to provide early protection to children and reduce transmission to the wider population. For school-aged cohorts, vaccination should be completed by the Friday 12 December 2025.

Pregnant women are an exception to the later start date.

There are 3 clinical reasons to vaccinate pregnant women against flu:

to protect the pregnant women (they are at higher risk from complications from flu)
to protect the baby during pregnancy (for example, flu infection increases the risks of the baby being premature or stillborn)
to protect the baby in the first few months of life (babies under 6 months old are at high risk of complications from flu)

Although the first and second of these reasons would align with the advice to provide maximal protection during the expected flu season, the third reason requires women to be vaccinated prior to delivery and therefore vaccination of pregnant women should begin from 1 September. Pregnant women are not expected to lose protection as rapidly as the older adults population and therefore starting vaccination (particularly in those women who are in the later stages of pregnancy) earlier than for those in other clinical risk groups, will still offer protection to women themselves in the peak season. Commencing vaccination early will, however, ensure that as many newborn babies as possible are protected during the flu season and help to optimise uptake.

Following clinical assessment, there may be a small number of other adults for whom it would be better not to delay flu vaccination until October. For example, for those who are due to commence immunosuppressive treatment (such as chemotherapy) before October, having flu vaccine before they start treatment would allow them to make a better response to their vaccination. GPs should use clinical judgement to bring forward vaccination in exceptional circumstances, as outlined in the Green Book, and offer vaccination as soon as vaccine comes available in line with contractual arrangements.

For those adults who have been used to getting their annual flu vaccine in September this may lead to questions and potential confusion about why they are having to wait. To help explain this change UKHSA has produced a flyer ‘When should I get my flu vaccine?’ that can be ordered for free.

The timing and length of an influenza season varies greatly between seasons. See guidance on the timings of the flu season.

Question 2

Effectiveness of the delayed start to the adult programme last season and hopes for the upcoming season

Accepted Answer

As mentioned above, last flu season was the first time that the delayed start to the programme was implemented. Despite 4 weeks less time to vaccinate most adults, vaccination for those aged 65 years and over was just shy of the WHO target of 75% by the end of the season, with unprecedented levels of vaccination activity seen during October. Weekly national level vaccine uptake data published in the UKHSA weekly national flu and COVID-19 surveillance report showed that for those aged 65 years and over there was an astounding 16% point rise in the first week of the programme and a further exceptional 21% point increase in the second week, with momentum continuing throughout October. This was a tremendous achievement from all those who are so dedicated to delivering the programme. However, vaccination activity levels notably slowed at the start of November. For this upcoming and future seasons, keeping momentum going throughout November, will ensure as many people as possible are protected.

The flu vaccine uptake annual reports published by UKHSA in May summarise the seasons performance compared to the previous season and show historical data trends.

UKHSA Influenza surveillance annual reports:

The annual reports showed contrasting flu vaccine uptake rates for 2024 to 2025 across eligible groups during a season of high flu levels. There were some successes on the delivery of the programme (such as the older adults mentioned above), but of concern were uptake among children aged 2 and 3 years, primary school-aged children and some of those in clinical risk groups. Last season, pregnant women who were eligible from 1 September saw very little vaccination activity over that month, but it was likely that during that month providers had a strong focus on establishing the maternal RSV programme that was introduced last September.

As mentioned above, there are some concerns about the level of uptake in children, but first a focus on some of last season’s achievements in this group. In secondary school-aged children the highest uptake on record was seen since the secondary schools’ programme was introduced to years 7 to 11 (just under 45%). Importantly for children aged 2 to 16 years who are in a clinical risk group, uptake last season was the highest on record at over 51%.

Despite these successes, it is key that we improve uptake in primary schools so that we can return to the levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are aware that a huge amount of planning activity has been completed by providers ahead of this season to increase uptake across many of these groups. A huge thank you for everyone’s efforts ahead of this upcoming season.

Question 3

New for this season, community pharmacy delivery of 2 and 3 year old flu vaccinations

Accepted Answer

To help support improvements in access and uptake, community pharmacies will be able to offer children aged 2 and 3 years flu vaccinations during the 2025 to 2026 flu season. Community pharmacy service delivery will begin from 1 October 2025, supplementing the offer in General Practice who will start vaccinating from the 1 September 2025, or as soon as vaccine is available.

The requirements of the service will be set out in the Directions and service specification. Further details can be found in the amendment to the tripartite annual flu letter (published 28 July 2025).

Please see the PGD section and the vaccine supply section for more information.

Question 4

Eligibility

Accepted Answer

The following are eligible for an NHS vaccine in 2025 to 2026

From 1 September 2025:

pregnant women
all children aged 2 or 3 years old (on 31 August 2025)
all primary school aged children (from Reception class to Year 6)
secondary school-aged children from Years 7 to 11
all children in clinical risk groups aged from 6 months to less than 18 years

From 1 October 2025:

those aged 18 to under 65 years in clinical risk groups such as those with:
those aged 65 years and over
those in long-stay residential care homes
carers in receipt of carer’s allowance, or those who are the main carer of an elderly or disabled person
close contacts of immunocompromised individuals
Locum GPs ^{[footnote 1]}
frontline staff employed by the following types of social care providers without employer led occupational health schemes
those living in long-stay residential care homes or nursing homes other long-stay health or social care facilities or a house bound Patient (defined in the ES specification) ^{[footnote 1]}

Examples of those in clinical risk groups:

chronic (long-term) respiratory disease, such as asthma (requires continuous or repeated use of inhaled or systemic steroids or with previous exacerbations requiring hospital admission), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or bronchitis
chronic heart disease, such as heart failure
chronic kidney disease at stage 3, 4 or 5
chronic liver disease
chronic neurological disease, such as Parkinson’s disease or motor neurone disease
learning disability
diabetes and adrenal insufficiency
splenic dysfunction or asplenia
a weakened immune system due to disease (such as HIV/AIDS) or treatment (such as cancer treatment)
morbidly obese (defined as BMI of 40 and above)

Examples of social care providers without employer-led occupational health schemes:

registered domiciliary care provider
Direct Payment (personal budgets) and/or Personal Health Budgets, such as Personal Assistants
a registered residential care/ nursing home ^{[footnote 1]}
a voluntary managed hospice provider ^{[footnote 1]}

For further information, see:

the tripartite annual flu letter published on 13 February 2025 and the amendment to the flu letter of the 28 July
links to GP Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Enhanced Service (ES) Specification
Community Pharmacy Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Service

Question 5

Frontline health and social care workers

Accepted Answer

All frontline health care workers, including both clinical and non-clinical staff who have contact with patients, should be offered a flu vaccine for the prevention of the transmission of flu, to help protect both staff and those that they care for. Vaccination of frontline healthcare workers for flu continues to be an employer responsibility without an activity-based payment.

Social care workers directly working with people clinically vulnerable to flu should also have the flu vaccine provided by their employer. There are circumstances where frontline staff, employed by specific social care providers without access to employer led occupational health schemes (see eligibility criteria above), can access the vaccine through the NHS free of charge.

Marketing assets to support flu vaccination of healthcare workers will be available from the Campaign Resource Centre. This year, the communications toolkit (see the section on Communications Toolkits below) includes both public-facing and staff facing messages.

Question 6

Influenza: the Green Book

Accepted Answer

The influenza chapter in ‘Immunisation against infectious disease’ (the Green Book), which has recently been updated, gives detailed descriptions about clinical risk groups advised to receive influenza vaccination and guidance for healthcare workers on administering the influenza vaccine and is available from GOV.UK.

Question 7

Flu vaccines which can be offered

Accepted Answer

Every year JCVI reviews the latest evidence on influenza vaccines and recommends the type of vaccine to be offered to individuals. For 2025 to 2026 no changes were made to the recommendations either for children or adults. NHS England confirmed which vaccines will be reimbursed on the NHS as part of the tripartite annual flu letter for the 2025 to 2026 season. Please see amendment to the flu letter of 13 February 2025.

A list of all influenza vaccines marketed in the UK (including details of ovalbumin content) is available on GOV.UK.

Which flu vaccines poster

A poster for practices summarising which flu vaccine should be given to eligible groups, with images of the manufacturers box for each vaccine, is available to download from GOV.UK.

Which flu vaccine should children have poster

A quick reference guide to the childhood flu vaccines for winter 2025 to 2026, download only, is available from GOV.UK.

Moving from quadrivalent to trivalent vaccine formulations

There are several types of flu viruses and seasonal flu vaccinations protect against specific strains of the type A and type B viruses. Due to the interventions taken during the COVID-19 pandemic (such as social distancing and reductions in international travel), one strain of the flu B virus has potentially gone extinct, leading to changes in recommendations for seasonal flu vaccine formulations.

Up until 2017 to 2018 season seasonal flu vaccine in the UK protected against 3 different virus strains (2 strains of flu A viruses and 1 strain of flu B virus) and were therefore called “tri”valent vaccines. In the UK from the 2018 to 2019 season onwards, seasonal flu vaccines began to contain 4 different virus strains (2 strains of flu A and 2 strains of flu B); and were called “quad”rivalent vaccines. Quadrivalent flu vaccines containing a strain from the two B lineages (Victoria and Yamagata) were developed to give wider protection against circulating flu B viruses. However, following the interventions introduced globally during the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been no confirmed detections of wild type B/Yamagata viruses by the UK national influenza centre, or internationally through any WHO influenza collaborating centres (as of August 2025), since March 2020.

With the potential extinction of the Yamagata virus, the WHO recommendations, now advise the use of trivalent vaccines (containing 2 A strains and a B Victoria strain). A trivalent formulation of the live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) (the nasal spray vaccine used in the children’s programme) was introduced in the UK programme last season (2024 to 2025), as advised by the JCVI (JCVI 10 October 2023 meeting). All inactivated influenza vaccines (IIV) used in the UK programmes for the 2025 to 2026 season will be trivalent formulations.

Professional facing resources used to support the flu programme (such as the JCVI statement, the Green Book chapter, PGDs and healthcare professional training documents) have begun using a naming system that is independent of the number of virus strains contained in the vaccines. For example, inactivated influenza vaccines are now abbreviated as IIVx rather than QIVx or TIVx (quadrivalent (Q) trivalent (T)).

Question 8

Guidance on immunisation training for 2025 to 2026 influenza season

Accepted Answer

All healthcare professionals involved in administering the influenza vaccine must have the necessary knowledge, skills, training and mechanisms in place to supply and safely administer influenza vaccines.

The updated National Minimum Standards were published in June 2025. They replace the previous training standards for registered healthcare practitioners and healthcare support workers in a single document that describes the training that should be provided for all healthcare staff with a role in delivering vaccination programmes. They recommend local training, preferably with an interactive element whenever possible. If face to face training is not available locally (it is always preferable to include an element of interactive learning, whether in person or via an online meeting platform), all those who advise on or administer influenza vaccines are recommended to complete the flu specific e-learning programme which is updated annually and is available free of charge with open access for all. This e-learning programme consists of a core knowledge module, separate modules on the inactivated and live influenza vaccines and accompanying knowledge assessments for each module.

The national flu immunisation programme for 2025 to 2026 slide set is available to download from the main annual flu programme page and an information for healthcare practitioners document containing information about the current influenza programme, the vaccines available and commonly raised issues for influenza vaccination has also been published.

Question 9

Patient Group Directions

Accepted Answer

Patient Group Directions (PGDs) for the 2025 to 2026 influenza season are available via the main webpage. These include a PGD for live attenuated influenza vaccine (including an addendum that was published on 8 August 2025) and a separate inactivated influenza vaccine PGD. Practitioners must not use these PGDs until they have been authorised in Section 2. This is a legal requirement in accordance with the Human Medicines Regulations 2012. Practitioners should follow local policy/procedures to access authorised PGD documents. There is a separate PGD for the community pharmacy seasonal influenza for children aged 2 and 3 years vaccine service for this season which will be available via the main webpage.

Question 10

National protocol for inactivated influenza vaccine

Accepted Answer

For the 2025 to 2026 influenza season, there is a national protocol for the administration of inactivated influenza vaccine to individuals eligible for vaccination as part of the nationally commissioned influenza vaccination programme. The national protocol allows for a mixed workforce model for vaccination similar to that used for COVID-19 vaccination. In accordance with the national protocol for inactivated influenza vaccine, administration of inactivated influenza vaccine may be by appropriately trained persons, following assessment of the individual by a specified registered professional as detailed in the national protocol.

Question 11

Public facing marketing campaign

Accepted Answer

This year there will be one national campaign to encourage uptake of the seasonal flu vaccine and routine vaccinations for pregnant women and children aged 0 to 5 years. From September, the campaign will highlight the important protection the flu vaccine helps to provide for those that are most vulnerable, and the protection passed from mum to baby whilst pregnant by the RSV and pertussis vaccines. The campaign focuses on cohorts where uptake is traditionally lower; pregnant women, children aged 2 to 3 and school aged children (through their parents and carers) and people living with long-term health conditions.

During the winter, the campaign narrative sets out that flu spreads more easily in winter and can be life-threatening, but that those eligible can protect themselves by having their flu vaccination, helping to reduce the serious illness if they catch it this winter.

The campaign will include TV advertising, broadcast radio, digital and multicultural marketing advertising supported by search, PR and partnership activity.

Printed materials for this campaign will be available to order from the Campaign Resource Centre.

Question 12

Communications toolkit

Accepted Answer

UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), NHS England and Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) have produced a communications winter toolkit which provides information on the flu vaccination programme for 2025 to 2026, as well as RSV and other respiratory viruses that spread more easily in winter. This will include public-facing messages. It aims to support stakeholders to explain and promote the vaccination programmes to those eligible. It contains background information, statistics, important messages, suggested social media copy, social media assets and links to useful information. The toolkit will be available from the Campaign Resource Centre (https://campaignresources.dhsc.gov.uk/campaigns/vaccinations/).

A separate toolkit has been prepared by NHS England to support health and social care organisations to increase staff uptake of flu vaccinations. This contains materials, key messages and other useful information and is available on the Campaign Resource Centre.

Question 13

Disease surveillance and vaccine uptake data

Accepted Answer

Influenza and COVID-19 disease surveillance reporting is combined into one report to create the ‘Weekly national Influenza and COVID-19 Surveillance Report’ which is published weekly on Thursdays at 2pm by UKHSA. See the 2025 to 2026 season data](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports-2025-to-2026-season).

The report summarises information from the surveillance systems which are used to monitor influenza, SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19), RSV and other seasonal respiratory viruses in England. As in previous seasons, from week 41 (9 October 2025) onwards, national level ‘top lines’ on weekly vaccine uptake for pregnant women, clinical at-risk groups, those 65 years and over and children aged 2 and 3 years will be included in the weekly surveillance report. During the autumn and winter months, to support the story behind the data in the weekly disease surveillance report for respiratory viruses, UKHSA publishes a series called UKHSA Virus Watch each week on their social media channels. This includes static graphs each week and a fortnightly 60 second video which has a presenter explaining the data with additional context and calls to action. You can find these and UKHSA’s other content on winter vaccines on the UKHSA social media channels X, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Bluesky.

UKHSA Virus Watch: The latest data on the viruses making us sick this winter

To see an example (last seasons Christmas episode) view on Youtube. Throughout the 2025 to 2026 season these will be available on the UKHSA Youtube channel.

The government’s official statistics on flu vaccine coverage for eligible GP registered patients, school-aged children and frontline healthcare workers are managed by UKHSA through the ImmForm website This data is used to formally evaluate the programme year-on-year and is reported annually to the World Health Organization. For each of these vaccine uptake collections, final end of season data is published in the corresponding annual reports each spring, and these annual reports also summarise decades of data from previous seasons, providing historical trends on GP patients, school age children and healthcare workers.

Question 14

Vaccine uptake data publication from UKHSA

Accepted Answer

For the 2025 to 2026 season monthly vaccine uptake will be published as official statistics at 2pm on the following dates

School Age Manual survey collection	Publication Date 2pm
October	Thursday, 27 November 2025
November	Thursday, 18 December 2025
December	Thursday, 29 January 2026
January	Thursday, 26 February 2026

Frontline Heath and Social care workers Survey	Publication Date 2pm
October	Thursday, 27 November 2025
November	Thursday, 18 December 2025
December	Thursday, 29 January 2026
January	Thursday, 26 February 2026
February	Thursday, 26 March 2026

GP Survey Month	Publication Date 2pm
October	Thursday, 27 November 2025
November	Thursday, 18 December 2025
December	Thursday, 29 January 2026
January	Thursday, 26 February 2026
February	Thursday, 26 March 2026

Further communication on data collection tools, collection timelines and user guides will be shared with stakeholders separately. For any queries related to the data collections or official statistics, please contact the relevant mailbox as follows:

seasonal flu vaccine uptake in children of school age: childfluvac@ukhsa.gov.uk
seasonal flu vaccine uptake in GP patients: influenza@ukhsa.gov.uk
seasonal flu vaccine uptake in healthcare workers: hcwvac@ukhsa.gov.uk

Link to the monthly data for the 2025 to 2026 season.

Note that as for previous seasons there will be specific webpages for each collection, but the webpage addresses are not available in advance of the pages being published.

However, the collections will be named as follows:

seasonal influenza vaccine uptake in school age children: monthly data, 2025 to 2026
seasonal influenza vaccine uptake in GP patients: monthly data, 2025 to 2026
seasonal influenza vaccine uptake in frontline healthcare workers: monthly data, 2025 to 2026

Operational data from NHSE

For commissioners and operational team managing the flu programme, near real-time activity and uptake data is made available by NHS England on the Federated Data Platform (FDP). This operational data is automatically extracted from provider IT systems daily to give the latest activity at local level, and uptake data which can be interrogated by different location and demographics. Flu vaccination data is published on NHS.UK. FDP flu data complements the official statistics published by UKHSA.

Please note, the flu vaccine uptake data available via the FDP provides an early operational view based on raw extracts from GP IT systems. While useful for immediate local-level insights, these figures have not yet undergone the detailed validation and analysis required for public health reporting.

Government official statistics on flu vaccine uptake are published by UKHSA – thorugh ImmForm – and are reviewed, quality-assured, and adjusted to account for anomalies before publication. These validated datasets are the recommended source for public health decision-making and reporting.

If discrepancies are identified between FDP and UKHSA data, please report them to UKHSA at influenza@ukhsa.gov.uk.

Question 15

UKHSA ImmForm platform – ordering centrally supplied vaccines in the UK and viewing vaccine uptake data in England

Accepted Answer

UKHSA ImmForm system

The UKHSA ImmForm system is a cornerstone of the UK’s immunisation infrastructure, supporting the national immunisation programmes by ensuring cost-effective and timely procurement and distribution of vaccines:

enabling the ordering of vaccines and medicinal products via a single, secure platform
collection, analysis, and reporting accurate vaccine uptake data to support disease surveillance and public health decision-making

Registering for an ImmForm account

To register, visit the ImmForm login page and click “Register for an Account”. You’ll choose from three options:

register to order products to an existing delivery point or revalidate an existing account
register to view or upload vaccine uptake data
create a new delivery point for product ordering

Users need to ensure all required fields are completed to avoid delays to registering. Remember:

ordering accounts require a registered NHS healthcare professional and regulatory body number
local authorities wanting access to ImmForm uptake data will need to seek approval from local NHS England Screening and Immunisation teams

A user guide is published on GOV.UK.

GPs in England can view their LAIV allocations

GPs in England can monitor their vaccine allocations for the 2025 to 2026 flu season directly in ImmForm – no need to contact the Service Desk.

To do so, log in and access the “Products Available to Order (Allocation Managed)” report under Reports > Stock Management Reports.

User guide published on the ImmForm website: User guide name: How to view allocations for allocation-managed products.

How to view vaccine orders in ImmForm

Order Vaccine users can view their organisation’s vaccine orders, including batch numbers and delivery confirmations, via the “All Orders” report under Reports > PowerBI Reports > Orders/Dispatches.

User guide “How to view past orders in the ‘All Orders Report’” published on the ImmForm website.

Reporting and recording stock incidents on ImmForm

If you need to dispose of products originally ordered through ImmForm, you need to complete a Stock Incident Form to ensure your records on the ImmForm system remain accurate.

How to report:

Log in to ImmForm and go to Product Ordering.
Click the Stock Incident tab and select Add Stock Incident.
Enter the number of doses lost.
Choose the incident reason from the dropdown and add any relevant details.
Click Submit to complete the report.

Accurate reporting helps maintain stock integrity and supports national vaccine programme oversight. User guide “Reporting Stock Incidents” published on the ImmForm website.

Reporting order discrepancies through ImmForm

If your ImmForm vaccine delivery is missing items or includes excess stock, you need to report the discrepancy within 48 hours of the receipt of the delivery, to ensure automatic processing, by:

Log in and click View Order History.
Select your order and click Report Problem (visible once marked as delivered).
Complete the form with reason for claim (such as Not Received or Other), details of missing or excess items and whether a replacement is needed, if urgent state needed by so replacement can be sent.
Click Submit.

You should receive a response within 4 working hours. User guide “How to report an order discrepancy” published on the ImmForm website.

Question 16

Vaccines for the 2025 to 2026 children’s flu programme supplied by UKHSA

Accepted Answer

All flu vaccines for the 2025 to 2026 children’s flu programme will be available to order by general practice and school-age providers in England via ImmForm.

Community pharmacies who are delivering flu vaccinations to children aged 2 and 3 years can access Fluenz® (LAIV) via the Federated Data Platform (FDP) managed by NHS England. Vaccines for this service will not be available to order through ImmForm.

UKHSA does not supply any flu vaccines for patients aged 18 years and over.

Please refer to guidance from your respective health departments for arrangements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Question 17

How flu vaccine availability is determined

Accepted Answer

The availability of flu vaccines each year is subject to a complex manufacturing and regulatory process that is required before vaccines are released to market. This is further to a rapid production period following the WHO announcement on which strains will be included in that year’s vaccines, which for the northern hemisphere is usually in late February.

As with all vaccines, flu vaccines are biological products and manufacture can be unpredictable. But unlike other vaccines used in the routine immunisation programme, flu vaccines are ‘just in time’ products, manufactured under very pressurised timelines and in very large volumes, which adds risk and uncertainty.

There are also multiple flu vaccine ‘platforms’ (for example, egg-based and cell-based), and vaccine production systems differ across these platforms. This can affect timelines for individual products differently.

Because of this, the specific date of availability for children’s flu vaccines is not confirmed by UKHSA until late summer.

Question 18

Vaccines and availability

Accepted Answer

UKHSA advise that the likelihood of vaccine availability should be taken into account when vaccination sessions are being arranged, to reduce the risk of disruption to planned activity should vaccine not yet be available, and providers of the programme should check the ImmForm news page regularly for the most up to date information.

The 2 vaccines that will be available, preliminary indicative ordering dates and the groups that these vaccines should be ordered for are set out in the table below. At present these timings remain subject to change and plans for vaccination sessions should take account of this.

The latest and most accurate information on availability of centrally supplied vaccines for the children’s flu programme is available on the ImmForm news page at all times. It is strongly advised that all parties involved in the provision of influenza vaccines to children ensure they remain up to date with this.

Vaccine	Manufacturer	Available to order for	Anticipated order opening for all providers
Fluenz® (LAIV)	AstraZeneca	All children from 2 years of age to school year 11 Children in clinical risk groups aged 2 to under 18 years ^{[footnote 2]}	Early September
Cell Based Trivalent Influenza Vaccine (Surface Antigen, Inactivated) (TIVc)	Seqirus	Children in clinical risk groups aged 6 months to under 2 years All other eligible ^{[footnote 3]} children aged 2 to under 18 years for whom LAIV is unsuitable	Early September

Question 19

Editing Fluenz® (LAIV) orders

Accepted Answer

Due to the anticipated large volume of orders for Fluenz® in the first few weeks of ordering, orders for this product will be assembled as soon as they are placed and will not be editable. If you need to make an adjustment to your order after it has been placed, you will need to contact helpdesk@immform.org.uk for assistance.

Question 20

Children’s flu vaccine supply for programme delivery innovation

Accepted Answer

We are aware of increasing activity across England, in particular by PCNs, to deliver the programme to children aged 2 and 3 years through innovative models (such as in a nursery setting). If you are planning any such activity, we advise that you contact childfluvaccine@ukhsa.gov.uk to discuss your plans. This will enable us to support with any additional supply requirements or any other supply related advice.

Question 21

LAIV ordering information for general practice

Accepted Answer

Ordering controls will be in place for general practices, to enable UKHSA to balance supply with demand. These controls will work by allocating an amount of LAIV based on the number of registered eligible patients and will be tailored to each practice. GPs will be able to place one order and receive one delivery of LAIV per week.

UKHSA expects to be able to accommodate the following, however, at this time, this information remains subject to change:

each GP practice will initially be allocated sufficient LAIV to vaccinate at least 45% of their eligible patients (all children aged 2 and 3 years, plus children in clinical risk groups from age 4 to under 18 years) when ordering commences
increases to these allocations will be made in response to demand and vaccine availability.
requests for extra vaccine will be considered on a case-by-case basis throughout the ordering period. Requests for additional vaccine should be sent to the helpdesk helpdesk@immform.org.uk and should be sent in good time before your order cut-off. Out of schedule deliveries will be by exception only

Question 22

Multi-Branch Practices and LAIV allocations

Accepted Answer

Please note that GP practices or groups that operate over multiple sites but are part of the same group or organisation will have a joint allocation (as in previous years), even where each site has a unique ImmForm account. This means that it is possible for one site to potentially order all of the available vaccine for the group, unless there is local agreement on how the allocated volume is shared. UKHSA recommend that this agreement is in place before ordering opens to reduce the risk of supply interruption. The information above allows practices to estimate the amount of vaccine they will be initially allocated, and how it should be split between all sites.

Question 23

LAIV ordering information for school-age providers

Accepted Answer

School providers are able to place 2 orders and receive 2 deliveries of LAIV per week, to assist in the management of vaccine volumes required across limited storage space at delivery points.

This operates on a 48-hour delivery schedule requiring the order to be placed before the 11:55am cut off 2 working days before the required delivery day. The table below illustrates the respective delivery days versus ordering day.

Order day (before 11:55am cut-off	Delivery day
Monday	Wednesday
Tuesday	Thursday
Wednesday	Friday
Thursday	Monday
Friday	Tuesday

Customers must ensure that the point of delivery will be open and staffed between 9am and 5pm on the delivery day when placing orders.

Please note that this does not affect the routine ordering and delivery schedule of any other vaccines (including inactivated flu vaccines) ordered from ImmForm and is applicable to Fluenz® (LAIV) only.

A default weekly ordering cap of 450 packs (4,500 doses) per week will be in place for school provider accounts.

Where this cap is insufficient and a provider needs a larger weekly volume of vaccine to deliver the programme (for example, where a provider covers a large area using a single account), a higher weekly cap should be requested through the UKHSA Flu Vaccine Operations team by emailing childfluvaccine@ukhsa.gov.uk referencing the relevant ImmForm account number or Org code. Requests should be made by Friday 30 August to ensure that accounts are set up correctly before vaccine ordering commences.

For one-off larger orders during the ordering period, requests should be made through helpdesk@immform.org.uk

Inactivated flu vaccine ordering

The Cell Based Trivalent Influenza Vaccine (Surface Antigen, Inactivated) (TIVc) will be available to order, in a single dose pack, for:

children in clinical risk groups aged from 6 months to less than 2 years old
children aged from 2 to less than 18 years old in clinical risk groups for whom LAIV is clinically contraindicated or otherwise unsuitable
healthy children from 2 years old to those in school year 11, for whom LAIV is unsuitable (for example, due to objection to LAIV on the grounds of its porcine gelatine content)

Order controls will also be in place for this vaccine as follows:

for GPs, there will be an initial cap of 10 doses or packs per week
for school-age providers, there will be a cap of 450 doses or packs per week

Influenza vaccines for the 2025 to 2026 season

Information on all influenza vaccines that will be marketed in the UK for the 2025 to 2026 season are available on the flu vaccination page on GOV.UK.

Question 24

Flu publications available to order

Accepted Answer

Leaflets remain an effective way of communicating the benefits of having a flu vaccine and inform the consent process. It is important that people receive a leaflet in a format that meets their needs, with accessible versions being an important way to improve uptake in underserved communities. We also want everyone to have a positive vaccination experience and having accessible information is part of that experience.

Our leaflets and resources are all available to download and many can also be ordered for free. We have a wide range of leaflets in translated versions:

simple text
Easy Read
large print
braille
video British Sign Language versions
easy read and video for those who have a learning disability

There are also HTML versions which are text only. This helps search engines on the web that look for content, people who use screen readers and assisted technology. HTML versions can also be signposted to in e-consent forms which need to include leaflets when asking for consent. If using e-consent it is important to recognise that not all parents and carers have access to digital resources, so it is important to provide printed leaflets as well.

Schools and the school aged immunisation service can identify which accessible versions would be helpful for their cohorts. For example, if there are students who are deaf or use British Sign Language (BSL), they can make the videos available on screens or share the link with parents and children. It is important to recognise that many BSL users rely on BSL resources as written literacy in this group can be lower.

Stay up to date with all of the publications to support the annual flu programme on GOV.UK.

Question 25

Main leaflets

Accepted Answer

Protecting your child against flu – information for parents and carers

Available in 34 languages this leaflet is for parents and carers. It explains why children are eligible for a flu vaccination, as well as describing the disease and the nasal flu vaccine.

Copies can be downloaded from GOV.UK or ordered on Find Public Health Resources

This leaflet is available to order and download in the following languages: Albanian, Bengali, Bulgarian, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Dari, Estonian, Farsi, French, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Nepali, Panjabi, Pashto, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Romany, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tigrinya, Turkish, Twi, Ukrainian, Urdu, Yiddish, and Yoruba.

Please note the images on the translated versions, large print, audio and braille differ to the English version.

Protect yourself against flu: information for those in

secondary school

This leaflet is aimed at young people and explains why they are eligible for a flu vaccination, as well as describing the disease and the nasal flu vaccine.

Copies can be downloaded from GOV.UK or ordered for free on Find Public Health Resources

This leaflet is available to order and download in the following languages: Albanian, Bengali, Bulgarian, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Dari, Estonian, Farsi, French, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Nepali, Panjabi, Pashto, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Romany, Russian, Somali, Spanish,Tagalog, Tigrinya, Turkish, Twi, Ukrainian, Urdu, Yiddish, and Yoruba

‘When should I have my flu vaccine?’ flyer

This flyer explains why adults eligible for the flu vaccine will be offered a flu vaccine from early October this year. This is based on the latest scientific evidence that shows that protection from the flu vaccine decreases over time in adults. It is therefore better to have the vaccine closer to when flu typically circulates. This flyer can be downloaded from GOV.UK or ordered for free on Find Public Health Resources

The ‘flu vaccination: who should have it and why’ leaflet

This leaflet explains to patients how they can help protect themselves and their children against flu this winter. It includes information about eligible children, adults and pregnant women.

You can download the leaflet or order it for free on Find Public Health Resources.

Accessible formats such as Audio, Braille, BSL video and Large Print are also available.

Translations of this leaflet are available to download: Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional, Cantonese), Estonian, Farsi, French, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Panjabi, Pashto, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Romany, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tigrinya, Turkish, Twi, Ukrainian, Urdu, Yiddish and Yoruba.

Question 26

Guidance and resources for schools

Accepted Answer

5 reasons to vaccinate your child against flu – primary school version

This poster is aimed at parents and carers and explains the benefits of vaccinating children against flu. It is available as translated versions in a number of community languages.

You can download a copy or ordered for free on Find Public Health Resources on GOV.UK.

5 reasons to vaccinate your child against flu – secondary

school version

This poster is aimed at young people and explains the benefits of having the flu vaccine. It is available as translated versions in a number of community languages.

You can download a copy or ordered for free on Find Public Health Resources on GOV.UK.

Stickers

Stickers are available for healthcare practitioners to give to children who have received a flu vaccine either at their GP practice or school.

There are 72 stickers per sheet. You can view these stickers or ordered for free on Find Public Health Resources on GOV.UK.

Question 27

Simple text versions

Accepted Answer

Aimed at individuals with lower literacy levels, simple text versions “All about flu and how to stop getting it”, are available for use in a variety of settings.

All about flu and vaccination – adults

You can download a copy or order from Find Public Health Resources

All about flu and vaccination – children

You can download a copy or order from Find Public Health Resources

Question 28

Resources for those with a learning disability

Accepted Answer

Several resources are available for those with a learning disability. They are aimed at people who have a learning disability or who have autism or who care for someone with a learning disability. They provide advice on the flu virus and why you need a vaccine every year.

Protect yourself from flu: easy-read leaflet

You can view the easy-read leaflet or order paper copies Find Public Health Resources.

Protect yourself from flu: Easy read poster

You can view the easy-read poster or order paper copies Find Public Health Resources.

Flu vaccination films for people with a learning disability and autistic people and their family or carers

2 short films about the importance of the flu vaccination for people with a learning disability and autistic people with certain health conditions.

The film covers why it is important, who is eligible for a free vaccine, where you can get the vaccine and reasonable adjustments and is available from YouTube for carers and those with a learning disability.

Reasonable adjustments

The importance and range of reasonable adjustments that can be made so people with a learning disability or other disabilities have good access to healthcare is explained in this film. Resources and tools to support this legal requirement can be found on the website from the NHS England website.

Question 29

Flu vaccination for pre-school children

Accepted Answer

Immunising preschool children against flu

You can download this leaflet, which is about the annual flu vaccination programme for preschool children. It informs those working in the early years sector about the programme and how they can support it. It is aimed at nursery and preschool managers and staff, and childminders delivering the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework, and those who provide informal childcare, such as nannies.

Question 30

Letter templates for General Practice

Accepted Answer

Flu vaccination: letter template for children aged 2 and 3 years

GP practices can use this template to invite parents and guardians to get their child vaccinated at the local surgery.

Flu vaccination: letter template for at risk patients and carers

Template for GPs to invite patients at risk of flu due to a medical condition, pregnancy or age, and those who receive a carer’s allowance or are the main carer for an older or disabled person, to have their annual flu vaccine.

GP best practice guidance: Increasing flu vaccine uptake in preschool children

This resource sets out steps that General Practice can take to improve flu vaccine uptake in children aged 2 and 3 years old. You can download this document on GOV.UK.

Question 31

British Islamic Medical Association flu resources

Accepted Answer

The British Islamic Medical Association (BIMA) have produced 2 resources which explain the benefits of flu vaccination, the Islamic position on taking up the vaccine, and how to weigh up whether your children should have the nasal spray vaccine given the porcine gelatine content and conflict with a halal diet. BIMA are happy to be contacted for any local queries on info@britishima.org and you can download these resources from the BIMA website.

These eligible cohorts may be vaccinated by any general practice, regardless of whether they are registered with that general practice. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
Unless LAIV clinically contraindicated or otherwise unsuitable ↩
Children from 2 years of age to school year 11, and children in clinical risk groups aged 2 to less than 18 years ↩

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