If you are in the following groups of people, you can get a free flu vaccine:

Free flu jab

All adults aged 50 years and over

Pregnant women (see more information below)

Those in long-stay residential care homes

Carers

Close contacts of immunocompromised individuals

Frontline health and social care workers

Those aged 6 months to 65 years in at-risk groups, including people with the following health conditions:

• Respiratory (lung) diseases, including asthma
• Heart disease, kidney disease or liver disease
• Neurological (brain or nerve) conditions including learning disability
• Diabetes
• A severely weakened immune system (immunosuppression), a missing spleen, sickle cell anaemia or coeliac disease
• Being seriously overweight (BMI of 40 and above)

All children aged 2 to 10 years on 31st Aug 2022 (see further information below)

Secondary school children in years 7, 8 and 9. (Some school children in years 10 and 11 may also be offered the vaccine. If offered, this will be later in the year)

You can have your flu vaccine at:

• your GP surgery
• a pharmacy offering the service – if you’re aged 18 or over (find a pharmacy offering flu vaccinations on the NHS website
• some maternity services if you’re pregnant
• Sometimes, you might be offered the flu vaccine at a hospital appointment.

If you have a flu vaccine at any NHS service except your GP surgery, you do not have to tell the surgery to update your records. This will be done for you. If you’ve been given a flu vaccine privately, or through an occupational health scheme, you can tell your GP surgery if you would like it added to your NHS record.

Please click through to the NHS website for details of where children’s vaccinations are provided. Most school aged children who are eligible for flu vaccine, will be vaccinated at school. Children aged 2 – 3 will usually be vaccinated at their local GP surgery.

The children’s nasal spray flu vaccine is offered every year to children (aged 2 to 17 years old) to help protect them against flu. Flu can be a very unpleasant illness for children and can lead to serious problems, such as bronchitis and pneumonia.

Children aged 2 and 3 years will be given the vaccination at their general practice, usually by the practice nurse. School-aged children and young people will be offered the flu vaccine in school. For most children, the vaccine will be given as a spray in each nostril. This is a very quick and painless procedure.

The nasal spray vaccine contains small traces of pork gelatine. If this is not suitable, parents and guardians can speak to their child’s nurse or doctor about the non-porcine flu injection for children.

More information is available on the NHS children’s flu vaccine page

It is safe to have the flu and COVID-19 vaccines during any stage of pregnancy, from the first few weeks up to your expected due date.

Women who have the vaccines while pregnant also pass some protection on to their babies, which lasts for the first few months of their lives. It’s safe for women who are breastfeeding to have both vaccines if they are eligible. It’s also safe to have both the flu vaccine and the COVID-19 vaccine at the same time.

You can read more on the NHS website This also explains that there is good evidence that pregnant women have a higher chance of developing complications if they get flu, particularly in the later stages of pregnancy. One of the most common complications of flu is bronchitis — a chest infection that can become serious and develop into pneumonia. If flu is contracted while pregnant, it could cause the baby to be born prematurely or have a low birthweight. This could increase the need for admission to intensive care for mum and baby and may even lead to stillbirth or death.

Most people who get COVID-19 while pregnant experience no, or mild to moderate symptoms, but a small number become seriously unwell. COVID-19 infection in pregnancy has been linked to an increased risk of preterm labour and stillbirth. Almost all pregnant individuals with serious illness requiring hospitalisation and admission to intensive care for COVID-19 have been unvaccinated.

If you get flu and get COVID-19 at the same time, the symptoms are likely to be more serious.