The seasonal influenza programme runs from the 1 September 2025. The following cohorts will be covered, with the majority of adults eligible from October 2025.
From 1 September 2025:
- pregnant women
- all children aged 2 or 3 years on 31 August 2025
- primary school aged children (from Reception to Year 6)
- secondary school aged children (from Year 7 to Year 11)
- all children in clinical risk groups aged from 6 months to less than 18 years
From 1 October 2025:
- those aged 65 years and over
- those aged 18 years to under 65 years in clinical risk groups (as defined by the Green Book, Influenza chapter 19)
- 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
- frontline workers in a social care setting without an employer led occupational health scheme including those working for a registered residential care or nursing home, registered domiciliary care providers, voluntary managed hospice providers and those that are employed by those who receive direct payments (personal budgets) or Personal Health budgets, such as Personal Assistants
All frontline health care workers, including both clinical and non-clinical staff who have contact with patients, should be offered flu vaccine from the start of October.
The main changes to the 2025 to 2026 flu vaccine programme are summarised below:
- all the vaccines recommended for use in 2025 to 2026 flu vaccination season will be trivalent influenza vaccines, containing 2 influenza A strains and one influenza B strain
- the recombinant influenza vaccine (IIVr) will be available for the 2025 to 2026 flu vaccination season (after not being available for the 2024 to 2025 flu vaccination programme)
- the adjuvanted inactivated influenza vaccine (aIIV), previously available for those aged 65 years and over, is now licensed from age 50 years and over
Further information for healthcare professionals is available here.
The e-learning for health flu immunisation module is freely available to access here.
PDG materials are available here.
GP practices in London are encouraged to contact the London Immunisations Team directly at England.londonimms@nhs.net with any queries.
Chickenpox vaccine
The government has confirmed that from January 2026 the chickenpox vaccine will be available on the NHS as part of the routine childhood immunisation programme. Eligible children will be offered the combined vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) based on the scientific advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) in November 2023.
Doses will be offered at 12 and 18 months of age, with a catch up programme for older children expected in the future based on the JCVI’s recommendations. While the vaccine doesn’t guarantee lifelong immunity, it reduces the likelihood of severe infection and time off from childcare settings.
Further details on the programme including information for GPs delivering childhood vaccines will be published shortly.
Other changes to routine childhood vaccination schedule
In July 2025, NHSE announced other changes to the infant vaccination schedule. In summary:
From 1 July 2025, changes are being made to the infant schedule at 8, 12 and 16 weeks of age:
- the meningococcal B vaccine, previously offered at 8 and 16 weeks will be offered at 8 and 12 weeks of age
- the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) previously offered at 12 weeks of age will be offered at 16 weeks of age
- cessation of routine Hib/Men C (Menitorix) for children turning one on or after 1 July 2025
- cessation of monovalent hepatitis B dose offered at one year in selective neonatal Hep B programme
From January 2026
- introduction of an additional fourth dose of DTaP/IPV/Hib/HepB at new 18-month appointment
- second MMR dose will be moved from 3 years 4 months to 18 months (soon to be changed to MMRV)
Further details on these changes are available in this issue of the vaccine update.