Private pharmacy flu jab prices have remained on the rise for the second year in a row, C+D has learned.
Once again, Boots is charging the most for a private flu vaccine at £21.95 for those ineligible for free jabs on the NHS – up £2 from autumn 2023.
Rowlands has raised the price of its flu vaccine by a pound, this year totalling £17.99.
Also at £17.99, Well pharmacies are charging the same price as Rowlands - making this the only multiple not to raise its prices compared to last year.
Read more: Flu programme dates announced but pharmacies to source Sanofi alternatives
Meanwhile, Tesco is charging £3 more for a jab than last year at £16 per shot.
And a flu jab at Asda will set you back £1 more than last year, costing £13.
This year, the price of a private flu jab at is £12 for those with a Morrisons More card or £15 for non-members, after charging £12 last year.
Read more: Flu wars: Which pharmacy chain is offering the cheapest jabs this season?
But for the second year in a row, Superdrug has beaten the supermarket pharmacies to the title of large pharmacy chain offering the cheapest vaccination, charging £9.95 for those with a free Superdrug health and beauty card – £1.16 more than in 2023.
Non-members, however, will still have to pay £19.95.
Pharmacies are also offering free jabs to those eligible to get their vaccine on the NHS, which includes adults who are 65 or over, pregnant, live in care homes or those who have certain health conditions, among others.
“Disappointing for the profession”
Speaking to C+D this week (September 18), Newdays Pharmacy group owner Olivier Picard said that independent pharmacies cannot justify matching the prices of the cheapest private flu jabs.
Picard said that Newdays, which is charging £18.50 per jab this autumn, spends “over £10 for a flu jab so can't do it for £9.95…it's not possible for us”.
“Even with economies of scale, it sounds like some of these companies are doing ‘loss leaders’ to drive people in their stores,” he added.
“If pharmacies value their clinical services [at] a pound or two…then it's disappointing for the profession,” he told C+D.
Read more: Pharmacy technicians added to NHS flu jab PGD in professional first
And independent St Annes Pharmacy in Lewes, East Sussex, told C+D that it is charging £20 for a private flu jab this year.
A staff member at the pharmacy said that the low prices offered by some multiples are “taking so much of the business away from the independents who can’t” price match.
Pharmacist and co-owner of Imaan Healthcare Mark Bartley told C+D that the group is charging £17 for a jab, adding that "some contractors are devaluing the service and in doing so devaluing the contribution community pharmacy makes in providing adequate immunisation during the winter for influenza".
Flu jab foraging
Meanwhile, NHS England (NHSE) revealed in June that NHS flu vaccinations for most eligible adults “will commence October 3”.
The update also revealed that one flu vaccine, the recombinant Quadrivalent Influenza Vaccine (QIVr) manufactured by Sanofi, “will not be available for the 2024/25 flu season”.
Read more: ‘Late’ but ‘welcome’: Flu programme start dates announced
At the time, NHSE stressed that “providers are responsible for securing alternative supplies of vaccine”.
The news came after the commissioner confirmed that pregnant women and children will be offered the free vaccine from September 1.
