On this webpage, you will find information and FAQs about COVID-19 vaccines (updated 8th April 2025).  

We encourage you to take up the offer of the Spring booster as it will help reduce the chances of you developing severe COVID-19 disease.  

Details of the vaccination programmes in the four home nations:  

  • In England: The Spring vaccination programme will run from 1 April to 17 June. If you are eligible for a vaccination, you will be contacted by text, email, NHS App messages or a letter, but you don’t need to wait. You can book an appointment via the NHS website, the NHS App or by calling 119. 

Walk-in appointments are also available. Use the NHS walk-in finder to find a location near you. 

  • In Scotland: The programme will run from 31st March – 30th June. Wait to be contacted by letter, or by text or email if you have previously opted to be contacted in these ways. 
  • In Wales: The programme will run from 1 April to 31 July. You will receive an invitation from your local health board. 
  • In Northern Ireland: The programme will run from 7 April to 31 July. You can get a vaccination from your GP, participating local pharmacies or HSC Trust (Health and Social Care Trust) clinics.  NI Direct has more information. 

Eligibility 

The eligibility criteria are the same in all home nations:  

  • Adults aged 75 years and over (those who turn 75 years old by 17 June 2025) do not need to wait until their birthday, they can get vaccinated anytime between 1 April and 17 June). 
  • Residents in care homes for older adults (people who are admitted to an older adult care home or become immunosuppressed by 17 June are also eligible).
  • Individuals aged 6 months and over who are immunosuppressed as defined by the Green Book, this includes: 
    • Individuals with primary or acquired immunodeficiency states at the time of vaccination due to certain conditions 
    • Individuals on immunosuppressive or immunomodulating therapy at the time of vaccination 
    • Individuals with chronic immune-mediated inflammatory disease who were receiving or had received immunosuppressive therapy prior to vaccination 
    • Individuals who had received high-dose steroids for any reason in the month before vaccination 

For the full criteria please refer to the Green Book. The criteria for additional doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in those aged 12 years and above can be found in Box 1, while criteria for additional doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in children aged 6 months to 11 years can be found in Box 2. 

Timing of your vaccination 

The JCVI’s advice is that COVID-19 vaccinations should be around 6 months apart. The absolute minimum between doses is 3 months. 

Why getting vaccinated is important 

The NHS recommends topping up your protection against COVID-19 if you are in the defined high-risk group listed above. New evidence from the UK Health Security Agency1 (UKHSA) shows that people who had a vaccination last spring were less likely to be admitted to hospital for up to two months afterwards, compared to people who did not have one.  

₁ JCVI advises on eligible groups for 2024 spring COVID-19 vaccine – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 

Who cannot take up the offer of a spring vaccine? 

There are very few eligible people who should not have a dose this spring. If you have had a severe reaction to a previous dose of the vaccine you should discuss this with your doctor. You can get your seasonal COVID-19 vaccine three months after your last COVID-19 vaccine. 

How many doses of COVID-19 vaccine have people with immunodeficiency been offered? 

The COVID-19 vaccine schedule for people with immunodeficiency up to now has been: 

  • 1st primary dose – from around Jan 2021 
  • 2nd primary dose – from around April 2021 
  • 3rd primary dose – from around September 2021 
  • 4th dose (1st booster) – from around January 2022 
  • 5th dose (Spring 2022 booster) – from around April 2022 
  • 6th dose (Autumn 2022 booster) – from around September 2022 
  • 7th dose (Spring 2023 booster) – from around April 2023 
  • 8th dose (Autumn 2023 booster) – from around October 2023 
  • 9th dose (Spring 2024 vaccination) – from around April 2024 
  • 10th dose (Autumn/Winter 2025 vaccination) – from around October 2024. 

Can I get the COVID-19 vaccine even if I have not had any previous doses? 

If eligible, you can get protection from a spring COVID-19 vaccination even if you have not taken up a COVID-19 vaccine offer in the past. Most people do not need extra vaccinations to make up for any they have missed, but your doctor may advise a further dose if you have a severely weakened immune system. 

Getting re-vaccinated after a stem cell transplant 

Anthony Nolan has information about re-vaccination following a stem cell transplant. 

If I’m not eligible, can I get a COVID-19 vaccination privately? 

You can get a COVID-19 vaccination privately. This may be of interest if you live with, or have regular contact with, someone who has a poorly functioning immune system and you don’t qualify for your national vaccination programme. 

Check with your local pharmacies whether they can offer this service. A vaccination can cost from £45 up to £100, depending on the provider and the vaccine type. 

The information has been provided by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and NHS England. Posted 8th April 2025.  

Frequently asked questions

In these circumstances it would be difficult to know which of the treatments has given a reaction if these are given in the same day.  Speak to your health team for advice that covers your specific medical circumstances.

COVID-19 vaccines authorised for use by the NHS are effective, provide a strong vaccine response, and have a good safety record. They have all met strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness. These vaccines are regularly reviewed and updated to match circulating strains of COVID-19 where possible. 

If you are taking medication, please bring a list of these with you to the vaccination centre. Do not bring the medicines themselves. If you are taking a blood thinner called ‘warfarin’ you will also be going for regular blood tests to monitor the thickness of your blood using a test called INR. The INR test result is a number (for example 2.5). Please make sure you know your latest INR reading and when that was last checked.  If you don’t know this, you can get it from your GP surgery.

Like all medicines, vaccines can cause side effects. Most of these are mild and short-term, lasting no longer than a week, and not everyone gets them. These may include: a sore arm where the needle went in; feeling tired; a headache; feeling achy; feeling or being sick.

You can take painkillers, such as paracetamol, if you need to. If you have a high temperature, you may have coronavirus or another infection. If your symptoms get worse or you are worried, call 111.

Read about the coronavirus vaccines and their side effects at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/coronavirus-vaccine/ 

You can report side effects at Yellow Card Scheme – MHRA.

As with the Spring COVID-19 vaccine campaign in both 2022 and 2023, household contacts are not eligible.  

Infection with the Omicron variant is far less likely to lead to serious complications than earlier strains, and the current vaccines offer modest, short-term protection against mild disease. This means that the vaccines cannot help much to reduce the spread of infection.  

For the spring 2025 vaccine, JCVI is prioritising groups most vulnerable to serious outcomes from COVID-19 including those aged 75 or over, living in care homes, and those who are immunosuppressed. These individuals are at highest risk of severe COVID-19, and as time passes, their protection derived from vaccination in autumn 2023 will wane substantially before autumn 2024. 

If you are participating in a research study, such as the STRAVINSKY study, you may in time, get to know this, but, at the moment, there isn’t routine testing to determine benefit. 

Patients should always seek personalised medical advice from their healthcare professionals and clearly inform the vaccine centre about their COVID-19 infection and any treatment that was given to treat the infection. For adults no specific period is mandated, however in general terms a minimum of clinical recovery to up to 4 weeks after a positive test is advised. This advice does not replace the need to obtain specific guidance from a healthcare professional with access to your full patient history. The guidance for children is different to adults and longer periods are advised between infection and vaccination (8-12 weeks).

All vaccines undergo extensive safety testing and must meet exacting standards to progress through the different stages of clinical trials. Their use must be approved and licensed before their use through expert review of all trial data through the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). They check that the trial meets the necessary efficacy and safety levels. You can find out more about this process at http://vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/vaccine-development

The safety of the vaccines will be monitored on an ongoing basis, as with all licensed drugs. This is undertaken by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) through the Yellow Card Scheme. Reports of suspected side effects are sent to the MHRA by drug companies (who are obliged to pass on any reports of suspected side effects that are defined as serious), health professionals, and patients themselves.

The data are evaluated each week, and the reported side effects are compared against the expected side effects as detailed in the information sheet for the vaccine. If a previously unidentified reaction emerges, or the frequency of reactions is not in line with what is expected, then the MHRA will investigate carefully. What happens next depends on the kind of side effect identified, but options include insisting that details of the new side effect are given in the product information leaflet or giving out warnings identifying groups of patients who should not be given the vaccine. In rare circumstances, the vaccine may be withdrawn from use.

The COVID-19 vaccine will reduce the chance of you becoming severely unwell. It may take a few days for your body to build up some extra protection from the vaccine. Like all medicines, no vaccine is completely effective – some people may still get COVID-19 despite having a vaccination, but any infection should be less severe. 

There are very few individuals who cannot receive the COVID-19 vaccines approved in the UK. Where there is doubt, rather than withholding vaccination, appropriate advice should be sought from the relevant specialist e.g. an allergist or immunologist, or from the local immunisation or health protection team.

The Department of Health (DOH) green book (the DOH vaccine reference book) gives the following statement:

‘Anaphylaxis
Anaphylactic [severe allergic] reactions to vaccines are extremely rare but have the potential to be fatal. Between 1997 and 2003, there were 130 reports to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) of anaphylaxis or anaphylactic-type reactions following immunisation (excluding the meningitis C campaign), although no deaths as a result of the reaction were reported. In that time, around 117 million doses of all vaccines were supplied to hospitals and GPs. This rate (approximately one per million vaccine doses) is similar to that reported from other countries (Bohlke et al., 2003; Canadian Medical Association, 2002).’

Other reactions are non-anaphylactic vaccine events and they are more common, but can usually be managed with antihistamines or will go of their own accord.

If you have concerns discuss the issue with your health team.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) provides advice to the Government about this. They examine data on who suffers the worst outcomes from coronavirus and who is at highest risk of death.

Updated 8th April 2025