Vaccine guidance

You can opt to receive NHS notifications about vaccinations: here. 

There are lots of benefits to being recorded as an unpaid carer on your GP record. It helps your GP to know, so that you can be advised of local support services and prioritised for certain vaccines including COVID-19 and the flu vaccine. You can refer to this government guidance for more information. It may be helpful to clarify your status as a carer – see our template letter. 

On the NHS website, you can find some general guidance about the autumn/winter 2024 booster. The groups to be offered a COVID-19 vaccine in autumn/winter 2024/25 are:

• residents in a care home for older adults
• all adults aged 65 years and over
• persons aged 6 months to 64 years in a clinical risk group, as defined in tables 3 and 4 of the COVID-19 chapter of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) Green Book on immunisation against infectious disease
• pregnant women
• all children aged 2 or 3 years on 31 August 2024
• primary school aged children (from Reception to Year 6)
• secondary school aged children (from Year 7 to Year 11)
• all children in clinical risk groups aged from 6 months to less than 18 years.

There may be exceptions to this depending on where you live. See more detailed guidance for:

England 

Scotland

Wales 

Northern Ireland

If you wish to receive your vaccination at the same time, you must make this known to the GP surgery in advance to confirm an appointment. 

Every effort should be made to ensure that you can be vaccinated at the same time as someone you care for if you are accompanying them to their appointment.

When notified about your vaccine, book your appointment as soon as possible.

Take steps to arrange alternative support for the person you are caring for while you are at your vaccination appointment. If you need help to arrange this, please contact your local council (trust in Northern Ireland) or local carers’ organisation.

Read the coronavirus vaccination leaflet so you know what to expect when being vaccinated.

Ensure you have some time to rest afterwards.

Seeking information 

If you have any questions about the vaccine, it may be helpful to look at reputable sources, such as the NHS site, and make a few notes in advance of your appointment so that you can gain clarity about any concerns.

You may wish to provide additional reassurance to someone you care for about the protection the vaccine could offer them, both now and in the long term. 

A false NHS text message has been circulating requesting that you click on a link to apply for a vaccine. It then takes you through to a fake NHS website platform requesting more information. For further details on how to spot this, see this helpful link from Which?.

Action Fraud's website states that there has been a recent increase in medical/NHS related email and text message scams. If you feel worried that you or someone you know has been affected, you can contact Action Fraud.

We would also urge you to spread the word among friends and family about scams like this, and only follow information that's available from trustworthy sources. No one should be claiming that you need to pay for the vaccine as there are no shortcuts (see below).

You will not need to pay for the vaccine. It will be rolled out through the NHS and you will be notified about the process of getting one. It is advisable to be wary of any schemes suggesting that paying is necessary which are likely to be scams.

When it's your turn, you will be contacted by the NHS. You may be contacted by phone, email, letter or text so it's a good idea to keep an eye on all your channels.

You may be asked to go:

- to hospital
- to a local GP practice or community pharmacy
- to a vaccination centre
- or special arrangements will be made if you are unable to travel.

The vaccines cannot be approved by the UK regulator (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency - MHRA) until they have been rigorously tested to meet the highest safety standards. Therefore, at this stage of public roll out, we can be assured that they have met these standards.

The current recommendation is that there should be a gap of at least seven days in between the vaccines according to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

You will be contacted directly when it is possible for you, or those you care for, to receive the vaccine and it is important to discuss any concerns you might have with a medical professional.

Any side-effects from the vaccine or booster should be mild and short-term. If you continue to feel unwell, it is important to get a test for COVID-19 and self-isolate as a precautionary measure. The possible side-effects you might experience can be found on the NHS website.