Covid vaccines may go on sale in the UK privately for the first time in 2024
Covid vaccines may go on sale privately in the UK for the first time after health officials approved the move, it has been reported.
Despite the spread of new Covid variant Eris, 12 million fewer people will be offered Covid booster vaccines on the NHS this winter.
In future, people may be able to buy them in pharmacies and private clinics instead and they could be available as soon as next year for people who are not currently eligible through the NHS, according to The Times.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has given the green light for the commercial sale of Covid vaccines, the distribution of which sparked geopolitical rows at the height of the pandemic.
Vaccines have so far only been available through the NHS, with people called forward when they are eligible.
The jabs may be available to buy from next year by spring ag the earliest, with one of the governmentâs suppliers, Moderna, saying it was âexploring the possibility and viabilityâ of the move.
It is reported that ready-filled syringes are likely to be used, rather than vials with several doses currently used by the NHS.
The number of people who qualify for an NHS Covid booster this autumn has been reduced by about 12 million compared to last year after the minimum age was raised to 65 from 50. It means doses could be freed up for sale on the private market.
âWe have spoken to manufacturers weâre in contract with and made it clear we wonât prevent them initiating a private market for Covid-19 vaccines, rather weâd welcome such an innovation in the UK,â a UKHSA spokesman told The Times.
âAs far as weâre concerned, the ball is in the court of the manufacturers to develop the market with private healthcare providers.â
Leading scientists have called for Covid boosters to be available to buy privately, but warned the vaccines are likely to be much more expensive than the flu jab, which usually costs ÂŁ15-20.
Professor Adam Finn of the University of Bristol, a member of the UKâs Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said he could see no reason for Covid boosters not to be available to buy.
âPublic policy, correctly in my opinion, in the UK is to offer vaccines to those who most need them without any compulsion. That sorts things out for people who are at the âI donât want [a] vaccineâ end of the spectrum,â he said.
Speaking in a personal capacity, Professor Finn said: âI think it will be a good idea for vaccines to be made available to those that want them on the private market. I donât really see any reason why that shouldnât be happening.â
It comes after news that Eris, the new variant, has grown rapidly to represent 12.3 per cent of Covid cases in the UK.
Eris, which is officially known as EG.5.1, is expected to push them up even further in the coming weeks when the summer holidays end and children go back to school.
Accurate Covid numbers have been increasingly difficult to come by in recent months after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) stopped its nationwide infection survey.
However, the ZOE Health Study suggests daily symptomatic cases have risen by 40 per cent in the past month â from 48,331 on July 6 to 67,459 on August 6.
ZOE figures, which generally tallied quite closely with ONS numbers when they were available, are seen as less accurate than they were at the peak of the pandemic because fewer people are logging their symptoms. But scientists believe they still give a fair indication of general trends.
Sales of Covid tests have increased by a third this month in the UK while new data from the UKHSA showed that hospital admissions for Covid had risen sharply in the last fortnight, albeit still at very low levels â rising from 1.17 per 100,000 of the population to 1.97 per cent.
Pharmacistsâ leaders have indicated they want to sell Covid jabs privately after the NHS cut the cost it pays them to administer vaccines by a quarter, according to The Times.
And one senior figure said there was also âsome interest from travel medicine providersâ in adding Covid to the vaccines they offer.
Professor Danny Altmann, of Imperial College London, said: âCovid and long Covid vulnerability has been massively skewed to the most socioeconomically deprived â for example, those in jobs least compatible with working from home or taking time off when infected. By outsourcing vaccines to private medicine, we exacerbate this divide.â
Philippa Harvey, director of the Covid vaccine unit at UKHSA, said: âThe Covid-19 vaccination programme continues to target those at higher risk of serious illness in line with JCVI advice, as those groups are most likely to benefit from booster vaccination at this time.
âThe Covid-19 vaccine is not currently available to buy privately in the UK but there is no blanket restriction on private sales of licensed vaccines. UKHSA will continue to work with manufacturers to ensure there is sufficient vaccine supply available to the NHS programme.â