Vaccines against Covid-19, currently supplied in the United Kingdom only to risk groups and through the Public Health Service (NHS), will begin to be sold privately in the country’s pharmacies from next month, according to The Times newspaper this Saturday.
This will allow people who do not access booster protection from the disease to receive the vaccine from pharmacies.
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is in talks with major pharmacy chains to sell its vaccine privately in the United Kingdom for the first time, the newspaper adds.
Since the first Covid jab was administered in December 2020, vaccines against the disease have been available only through the NHS and it is scientific advisers who decide who is entitled to them.
The current guidance in the UK is that booster shots are restricted this winter to high-risk people, such as those over 65, meaning millions of healthy young and middle-aged adults have not been vaccinated since It finished mass implementation two years ago.
In addition to Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company Moderna wants to try to sell its vaccine privately this year in pharmacies and private clinics.
The price will be set by pharmacies, as prices are currently set for annual flu vaccines, which cost between 15 and 20 pounds (between 17 and 23 euros).
“Covid-19 has not gone away and remains a threat,” Gillian Ellsbury, Pfizer’s UK primary care medical director, told the newspaper.
“As we move from a pandemic to an endemic state, we must ensure that we are prepared to respond to this unpredictable and constantly evolving virus,” he added.
“Vaccines remain an important pillar to help prevent serious illness or hospitalization as a result of Covid-19. By enabling greater availability of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, we are making it easier to choose and access for those who cannot receive it through the NHS program but wants to have the option of a Covid-19 vaccine,” he stressed.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI), which advises the British government on vaccines for the NHS, said that Covid booster shots this spring should be provided through the Health Service for adults aged 75 and over and who live in nursing homes.
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2024-02-10 09:08:00
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