Flu Vaccinations

Flu vaccination is free on the NHS for the people most likely to become seriously ill with it. In a typical season that means everyone aged 65 and over; pregnant women at any stage of pregnancy; adults aged 18 to 64 with a long-term condition such as asthma needing steroid treatment, COPD, heart disease, diabetes, kidney or liver disease, a weakened immune system, a learning disability or a BMI of 40 or more; people living in long-stay residential care; unpaid carers; and anyone who shares a home with someone whose immune system is weakened.

The exact list is confirmed every year. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation reviews the evidence and the annual flu letter is published before the season starts, so groups are added and removed from one winter to the next. Frontline health and social care staff are offered the vaccine each autumn as well, usually through their employer's occupational health scheme, and pharmacies can vaccinate social care workers who have no scheme to go to. If you are not sure whether this season's list includes you, ask us. It takes a moment to check and it costs you nothing to find out.

We are on Pinner Road, a short walk from Harrow town centre and on the bus route through West Harrow and North Harrow, so plenty of people call in on the way home from work or after the school run at Rayners Lane. If the current list does not include you, you can still be vaccinated with us privately. Ask at the counter and we will tell you what it costs before you commit to anything.

You do not usually need an appointment for an adult flu jab. Walk into the chemist during opening hours, Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm and Saturday 9am to 1pm, and ask at the counter. We are closed on Sunday. If we are quiet you will be in and out in about ten minutes. If you would rather have a set time, book an appointment online or contact us on 020 8863 6338.

Bring your NHS number if you know it, and be ready to tell us your date of birth, your GP surgery, and which long-term conditions you have or medicines you take. You do not need a letter or an invitation from your GP, and you do not have to be registered with a surgery near us: the NHS pharmacy service can vaccinate anyone who is eligible. Wear a top with a sleeve you can push up to the shoulder.

Timing matters. The NHS normally opens the children's and maternity part of the programme in September and the rest of it in October, then asks for most vaccinations to be finished by the end of November so protection is in place before flu starts circulating. Vaccination carries on into March, so a late jab is far better than none. If you are also due a COVID-19 vaccination, say so when you book, because where you are eligible for both we can give them at the same visit. Our COVID vaccinations page explains how that programme now works.

The appointment itself is short. We take you into our private consultation room, ask about allergies, previous reactions to vaccines and whether you are unwell today, and take your consent. The injection goes into the muscle of your upper arm and is over in seconds. There is no routine waiting period after a flu jab, so you can carry straight on with your day.

Afterwards your arm may ache where the needle went in, and some people feel slightly feverish or achy for a day or two. That is your immune system responding, not flu. Paracetamol helps if you need it. Serious allergic reactions are very rare, and our vaccinators are trained and equipped to manage one.

Protection is not instant, so allow about two weeks. It also fades over a season, and the strains in circulation change from one winter to the next, which is why the jab is repeated every year rather than being a one-off. We record the vaccination and notify your GP surgery, so it reaches your record without you doing anything. If you take regular medicines, this is a good moment to talk to us about your NHS prescriptions while you are here.

Children are offered flu vaccination too, and for most of them it is a nasal spray rather than a needle. The spray is the first choice from the age of two up to the eighteenth birthday, because it works well in that age group and children much prefer it. Two and three year olds are usually vaccinated at the GP surgery or at a pharmacy, and school-age children from Reception to Year 11 are normally done in school by the immunisation team.

Community pharmacies in England now run their own NHS service for children, so a child who missed the school session, or whose parents would rather not wait, can be vaccinated here. There are limits worth knowing: pharmacies can vaccinate from the age of two, and babies aged six months to two years who are in a clinical risk group need to go to their GP instead. The school-age catch-up route through pharmacies also opens later in the season than the rest of the programme.

An injected vaccine is used instead of the spray where the spray is not suitable, for example if a child is severely immunosuppressed, takes long-term oral steroids for asthma, or has wheezed in the past 72 hours. The nasal spray also contains a small amount of porcine gelatine, so if that is a problem for your family, tell us and we will arrange the injection instead. Either way we talk it through with you before anything is given.