Vaccination coverage: Flu (at risk individuals) - WMCA

Flu vaccine uptake (percent) in at risk individuals aged 6 months to 65 years (excluding pregnant women), who received the flu vaccination between 1st September to the end of February as recorded in the GP record. The February collection has been adopted for our end of season figures from 2017 to 2018. All previous data is the same definitions but until the end of January rather than February to consider data returning from outside the practice and later in practice vaccinations. ## Rationale Influenza (also known as Flu) is a highly infectious viral illness spread by droplet infection. The flu vaccination is offered to people who are at greater risk of developing serious complications if they catch the flu. The seasonal influenza programme for England is set out in the Annual Flu Letter. Both the flu letter and the flu plan have the support of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Chief Pharmaceutical Officer (CPhO), and Director of Nursing. Vaccination coverage is the best indicator of the level of protection a population will have against vaccine-preventable communicable diseases. Immunisation is one of the most effective healthcare interventions available, and flu vaccines can prevent illness and hospital admissions among these groups of people. Increasing the uptake of the flu vaccine among these high-risk groups should also contribute to easing winter pressure on primary care services and hospital admissions. Coverage is closely related to levels of disease. Monitoring coverage identifies possible drops in immunity before levels of disease rise. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) will continue to provide expert advice and monitoring of public health, including immunisation. NHS England now has responsibility for commissioning the flu programme, and GPs continue to play a key role. NHS England teams will ensure that robust plans are in place locally and that high vaccination uptake levels are reached in the clinical risk groups. For more information, see the Green Book chapter 19 on Influenza. The Annual Flu Letter sets out the national vaccine uptake ambitions each year. In 2021 to 2022, the national ambition was to achieve at least 85 percent vaccine uptake in those aged 65 and over. Prior to this, the national vaccine uptake ambition was 75 percent, in line with WHO targets. ## Definition of numerator Numerator is the number of vaccinations administered during the influenza season between 1st September and the end of February. ## Definition of denominator Denominator is the GP registered population on the date of extraction including patients who have been offered the vaccine but refused it, as the uptake rate is measured against the overall eligible population. For more detailed information please see the user guide, available to view and download from [https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake#seasonal-flu-vaccine-uptake] ## Caveats Read codes are primarily used for data collection purposes to extract vaccine uptake data for patients who fall into one or more of the designated clinical risk groups. The codes identify individuals at risk, and therefore eligible for flu vaccination. However, it is important to note that there may be some individuals with conditions not specified in the recommended risk groups for vaccination, who may be offered influenza vaccine by their GP based on clinical judgement and according to advice contained in the flu letter and Green Book, and thus are likely to fall outside the listed Read codes. Therefore, this data should not be used for GP payment purposes.