Britons will be able to buy private Pfizer Covid jabs from pharmacies as early as next month, if the drug giant gets its way.
During the pandemic, jabs have only been available on the NHS.
However, today the UK medicines regulator has given the green light for Pfizer’s mRNA Omicron jab to be sold on the high street.
Pfizer has not yet revealed how much it will charge per dose, but pharmacists are already preparing to offer a rival jab for around £45. Chains set their own prices, as with flu jabs.
The pharmaceutical giant is in talks with major pharmacy chains, such as Boots, to sell the vaccine to people who cannot get one on the NHS.
Pfizer hasn’t yet revealed how much it will charge per dose, but pharmacists are already gearing up to offer a rival jab for around £45. Chains set their own prices, as with flu jabs
Uptake for the booster rollout in the fall was approximately 68.8 percent (photo). As of December 2023, 7.8 million people had received a jab under the program
It comes as health officials this week indicated that eligibility for the NHS drive is likely to be slimmed down to save money.
Experts have long called for private sales of Covid vaccines since the threat of the virus began to recede.
Pfizer was one of the big winners of the pandemic. As lives and businesses collapsed due to lockdowns and disruptions to life during Covid, the New York City-based company became a household name.
During the height of the pandemic, anyone was eligible to get the shot against the virus.
Officials were desperate to build immunity among the population, essentially creating a ‘wall’ that kept Covid at bay and allowed the country to begin life after lockdown.
But over the past few autumn and spring boosters, jabs have been limited to at-risk Britons such as care home residents, the over-65s and frontline NHS workers.
As such, millions of people have not had a booster shot since the end of 2021.
The upcoming spring rollout is expected to be open to an even smaller cohort, with millions between the ages of 65 and 74 likely to no longer be eligible.
Experts say offering Covid vaccines privately – as happens every winter for flu – is a no-brainer. Even someone on the government’s own vaccine advisory panel said it was a “good idea” ahead of the autumn 2023 rollout.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which oversees the safety of medicines used in Britain, today granted approval for suppliers outside the NHS to thaw and unfreeze Pfizer’s Omicron XBB.1.5 vaccine to share, which must be stored at temperatures of -80C before thawing.
Once thawed, doses must be used within a tight time frame or they will be lost.
Pfizer’s jab is attractive to non-NHS providers because it can be supplied in a single-dose vial, meaning pharmacies don’t have to have multiple injections ready at once.
It uses the same wording that the regulator approved in September. Anyone over the age of 12 can get it.
Pfizer said it will start selling to pharmacies and private healthcare providers in England, Scotland and Wales from March.
Dr. Gillian Ellsbury, medical director for the company’s primary care, said: ‘As we move from a pandemic to an endemic, we must ensure we remain ready to respond to this ever-evolving and unpredictable virus.
‘Vaccines remain an important pillar in helping to prevent serious illness or hospital admissions due to Covid.
‘By enabling wider availability of the vaccine, we are facilitating choice and access for those who are not eligible to receive it through the NHS program but want the option of a Covid vaccine.’
Last week, Pharmadoctor, a clinical services provider that works with more than 8,000 pharmacies in the UK, announced that it would be offering private Covid vaccines for just £45 from April 1.
The delivery will consist of the Novavax vaccine.
Moderna has already said publicly that it wants to offer its shot privately.
A 2022 study led by academics at Imperial College London suggests almost 20 million lives were saved by Covid vaccines in the first year since countries began rolling out the jabs, with the majority in rich countries
Ministers paid around £20 per dose to Pfizer for the jabs at the height of the pandemic. The company has not yet announced what it will charge privately.
But in August Moderna said it expects to quadruple its own price if the jabs are offered privately.
It comes as the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) – which advises the government on vaccination – this week indicated that an NHS 2024 autumn booster program would likely be ‘smaller’ than previous years.
The JCVI said Covid is now a ‘relatively mild disease’ for the vast majority of people.
High population immunity now “allows for the development of a more targeted program,” aimed at people most likely to become seriously ill from the disease.
Although the ‘biggest threat’ from Covid comes in winter – both in terms of the risk of infection and pressure within the NHS – the virus remains ‘occurring all year round’, the JCVI acknowledged.
It would continue to assess “optimal” vaccination times and frequency beyond spring 2024, it added.
The government also said that further advice on the autumn program is expected ‘in due course’.
But adoption for the fall booster rollout was slow, at about 68.8 percent.
Millions of people have never had a shot.
However, health officials remain concerned about the spread of the virus after a surge in cases in January was blamed on a super-contagious variant called Juno.