Community pharmacy teams in England vaccinated over three million people against influenza in the first eight weeks of the 2021-22 flu programme, the PSNC announced last Thursday.

The negotiator said that pharmacies had passed the three million mark by the middle of last week, surpassing the total number of vaccinations administered during the whole of last year’s programme.

During the 2020-21 vaccination programme 2.76 vaccinations were recorded, itself a record figure.

Noting that the total number of vaccinations administered “will be even higher” as not all pharmacy teams are recording them electronically, the PSNC said that on current trends pharmacies “could be on track to top four million flu vaccinations this season”.

As of Monday November 1, the total figure recorded by PharmOutcomes and Sonar since the flu programme began on September 1 is 3,154,679.

PSNC director of services Alastair Buxton said: “We’ve been watching the flu vaccination numbers tick up over the past eight weeks and to hit the three million mark this early I the season is an amazing achievement.

"Doing this in any year would be impressive, but to do so while we are still in a pandemic, alongside all of the other pressures community pharmacy is currently facing, is a truly remarkable result.

“Thanks go to all community pharmacy contractors and their teams, and LPCs, for working so hard to yet again make the service an outstanding success. As ever, community pharmacy is showing how well it can rise to a challenge – yet another record performance delivering a critical public health service.”