Earlier this year, NHS England published details on the 2025/26 National Flu Immunisation Programme.

Eligibility

Cohorts eligible for the flu programme remain unchanged. Cohorts eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine in AW 2025/26 are:

• Residents in a care home for older adults
• All adults aged 75 years and over
• Persons aged 6 months and over who are immunosuppressed, as defined in tables 3 and 4 of the COVID-19 chapter of the Green Book.

Programme dates

As stated in the National Flu Immunisation Programme letter, flu vaccinations:

• Pregnant women and all eligible children will start from 1 September 2025. For school aged cohorts, vaccination in schools should be completed by 12 December 2025 with further catch-up opportunities as appropriate. 
• All other adult flu cohorts will start from 1 October 2025 and will run until the 31 March 2026. Although, we anticipate that most vaccinations should be completed by the end of November 2025 to provide the best possible protection going into winter.
• The COVID-19 programme will run from 1 October 2025 to 31 Jan 2026.

The start date for adult flu vaccinations aligns to COVID-19 vaccinations to support co-administration of flu and COVID-19 wherever possible and provide the best possible protection as we head in to winter.

Full details on this year’s programme can be found on the NHS England website.