Autumn/winter 2025-26 Flu & C-19 vac programme timings confirmed
COVID-19 vaccinations
NHS England has confirmed via a system letter, the patient cohorts that will be eligible for vaccination in the Autumn 2025 COVID-19 vaccination programme. This follows the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) being accepted by the Government.
The announced cohorts for the autumn 2025 programme will cover:
- Adults aged 75 years and over;
- Residents in a care home for older adults; and
- Individuals aged 6 months and over who are immunosuppressed, as defined in COVID-19: the green book, chapter 14a (Tables 3 and 4).
The letter follows an announcement by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) which also highlighted that in line with JCVI advice, frontline health and social care workers and staff working in care homes for older adults will not be eligible for COVID-19 vaccination under the national programme for autumn 2025.
The Green book will be updated to reflect the JCVI advice. Training materials and legal mechanisms will also be updated in line with JCVI advice before the service commencement date.
Programme dates
Flu vaccination
The letter confirms that flu vaccination for pregnant women will start from 1st September 2025 and vaccination for all other eligible adult cohorts will start from 1st October 2025.
The campaign end date will be 31st March 2026. Although NHS England anticipate that most vaccinations should be completed by the end of November 2025 to provide the best possible protection going into winter.
COVID-19 vaccination
The COVID-19 programme will run from 1st October 2025 to 31st January 2026 with the expectation that most COVID-19 vaccinations should be completed by 19th December 2025.
This aligns the start date for both adult flu vaccinations and COVID-19 vaccinations which aims to support co-administration of flu and COVID-19 wherever possible to provide the best possible protection for patients ahead of winter.
National Booking Service (NBS)
The letter advises that NBS will be opened for participating sites to post flu and COVID-19 vaccination appointments from 18th August 2025 and it will be open for bookings from the public from 1st September 2025 for vaccination from 1st October 2025.
The last available appointment date on NBS will be 31st January 2026 for COVID-19, however, NBS will remain open for flu only appointments until 31st March 2026.
NHS England’s letter also contains further details, including next steps regarding system planning for care home, housebound and outreach vaccinations.
Visit our C-19 vaccination programme webpage
Visit our flu vaccination programme webpage
