The British Veterinary Association has responded cautiously to the reports that vets may be asked to administer flu jabs to people, as part of a mass vaccination programme this coming winter. This follows the Government’s plans to vaccinate up to thirty-million people against flu in a bid to avoid the NHS becoming overwhelmed in the winter if there was to be a second spike in coronavirus cases.

Daniella Dos Santos, the President, stated: “Our understanding from the Department of Health and Social Care is that they are at a very early stage of gathering ideas about how they could expand the workforce to scale up delivery of the vaccination programme, but any suggestions at this stage are just speculation. If they confirm in time that vets are being considered as this new policy takes shape, we would make sure that our members have a strong voice in these discussions, especially in terms of logistical impacts on practices.”

“The British Veterinary Association has responded cautiously to the reports that vets may be asked to administer flu jabs to people.“

Rich Casey, VMG president, stated: “We are concerned that members of the veterinary profession are already working flat out to get back to delivering a high-quality service to owners and their pets. Their potential involvement in any programme of human vaccination could not be achieved without detailed consultation with the relevant veterinary bodies to assess the profession’s capacity and confidence to undertake this work. Professional indemnity issues would also need to be considered.”