Uptake of free flu vaccination fell this year for both older eligible people and younger high-risk groups, final reporting for the winter season shows.
The UK Health Security Agency said 74.6% of those aged over 65 years had the vaccine by the end of January compared with 77.8% last year and 79.9% in 2022/23.
For those under 65 years in a clinical risk group flu vaccine uptake was 39.7% down from 41.4% the previous year and 49.1% two years ago.
But the figures did show some rebounding in pregnant women, where uptake was 34.8% compared with 32.1% in 2023/24, the UKHSA figures showed.
This winter saw a later start to the influenza immunisation programme after the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommended the vaccine should be given closer to the start of the flu season.
In a letter to GPs last month, NHS England said it would stick with the same approach with the over-65s and clinical risk groups, who will need to wait until October for their jab. However, vaccination of pregnant women, school children and two-to-three-year-olds will be starting in September.
At the start of the 2024 campaign health security officials raised concerns about falling flu vaccine uptake as data showed 18,000 deaths over the last two winters.
The latest winter virus surveillance report, published yesterday, showed that:
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Of course they did.
That is a clear consequence of the reduction of confidence in the advice coming out of Public Health and the Government and particularly CMOs and JCVI and the vacccination campaigns as a result of handling of campaigns for Covid and winter vaccinations generally over the last 4 years : childhood imms figures have suffered likewise. Fiddling with vacination campaign timings and eligibility categories, and what turned out to be blatant lies or misinformation about availability of combined and ‘needle-less’ jabs has meant that patients no longer trust the campaign messages or announcements. But additionally, some jabbing opportunities are lost due to changes in dates and supply systems, and disrupting the established GP-led vaccination programmes in favour of ones moving to private providers. Also, some patients are holding out for their choice of vaccine, but are being refused access by the providers, and ending up not getting anything at all – although some are getting jabbed, but not counted in the figures becasue they are getting their preferred choice of jabs privately or outside the UK.