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Vaccine update: issue 333, December 2022, December holiday ordering

Published 16 December 2022

Applies to England

Vaccine supply – routine vaccination programme

Christmas and New Year bank holidays

Due to the Christmas and New Year bank holidays, there will be no deliveries or order processing by Movianto UK on Monday 26, Tuesday 27 December 2022 and Monday 2 January 2023. Please see the table below for revised order and delivery dates.

For customers with standard delivery day of Monday, please be aware that after Monday 19 December, your next available delivery day will be Monday 9 January.

You are reminded to be prepared for the break in deliveries and to order accordingly. Please make sure you have sufficient room in your fridge for any additional vaccine you wish to stock over this holiday period, bearing in mind the recommendation that only 2 to 4 weeks of vaccine stock be held at any one time.

Christmas and New Year bank holidays

Delivery date Order cut-off date Order cut-off time
Monday 19 December 2022 Thursday 15 December 2022 11:55am
Next Monday delivery is 9 January
Tuesday 20 December 2022 Friday 16 December 2022 11:55am
Wednesday 21 December 2022 Monday 19 December 2022 11:55am
Thursday 22 December 2022 Tuesday 20 December 2022 11:55am
Friday 23 December 2022 Wednesday 21 December 2022 11:55am
Monday 26 December 2022 Closed – no deliveries or order processing  
Tuesday 27 December 2022 Closed – no deliveries or order processing  
Wednesday 28 December 2022 Thursday 22 December 2022 11:55am
Thursday 29 December 2022 Friday 23 December 2022 11:55am
Friday 30 December 2022 Wednesday 28 December 2022 11:55am
Monday 2 January 2023 Closed – no deliveries or order processing  
Tuesday 3 January 2023 Thursday 29 December 2022 Holiday in Scotland only – orders delivered on 4 January
Wednesday 4 January 2023 Friday 30 December 2022 11:55am
Thursday 5 January 2023 Tuesday 3 January 2023 11:55am
Friday 6 January 2023 Wednesday 4 January 2023 11:55am
Monday 9 January 2023 Thursday 5 January 2023 11:55am

Exceptions to this timetable for off-shore customers are as follows:

  • Isle of Wight – there will be no scheduled deliveries on Monday 26 December or Monday 2 January. Deliveries on Wednesdays and Fridays as normal. Next Monday delivery is 9 January
  • Jersey and Guernsey – normal 48-hour delivery, no deliveries on Wednesday 28 December or Tuesday 3 January
  • Isle of Man – usual delivery on Wednesday 28 December will be on Thursday 29 December instead
  • Shetland, Stornoway and Orkney – with schedule delivery day of Tuesday will not receive a delivery on Wednesday 4 January

Please be advised that emergency or ‘out of schedule’ deliveries cannot be arranged for failure to place orders in good time.

Vaccines for the 2022 to 2023 children’s flu programme

Updated expiry dates for Fluenz® Tetra batches PH3539 and PH2004

Important information for action

Updated expiry dates for Fluenz® Tetra batches PH3539 and PH2004. AstraZeneca UK Limited, in agreement with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), have updated the expiry dates for Fluenz® Tetra batches PH3539 and PH2004 following routine stability testing. Batch specific variations (BSVs) have been granted by the MHRA. These batches are now licensed with the following updated expiry dates:

Batch Number Printed expiry date Updated expiry date
PH3539 3 January 2023 28 November 2022
PH2004 27 December 2022 12 December 2022

AstraZeneca assure full effectiveness until the updated expiry date, and the quality, safety and efficacy of Fluenz® Tetra is not affected. Except for the updated expiry date, there are no other changes made to the product information.

If you have received either of these batches, please ensure they are fully administered before the updated expiry dates listed above.

Please note that GP practices in England have not been supplied with any vaccines from these batches.

If you have any questions about this issue, please contact AstraZeneca Medical Information ([email protected] or call 0800 783 0033).

Expiry dates for all batches of Fluenz® Tetra issued for the 2022 to 2023 children’s flu programme

Batch numbers and associated expiry dates of all batches of Fluenz® Tetra that either have or will be issued this season are set out in the table below. Please ensure that the expiry date is always checked before use and that expired stock is disposed of in line with local policies.

Any disposed stock should be recorded through the stock incident page.

Batch number Expiry date
PH3539 28 November 2022 [footnote 1]
PH2004 12 December 2022 [footnote 2]
PF3032 22 December 2022
PF3033 23 December 2022
PH2003 26 December 2022
PJ2632 30 December 2022
PK2464 20 January 2023
PH3537 31 January 2023
PL2619 8 February 2023
PK3269 9 February 2023
PK2466 27 January 2023
PL2706 13 February 2023
PL3844 1 March 2023
PM2408 13 March 2023
PM2427 14 March 2023

Flu vaccines and availability

As in previous years, all flu vaccines for the 2022 to 2023 children’s flu programme are available to order by NHS programme providers in England via UKHSA’s ImmForm.

Please note that UKHSA does not supply any flu vaccines for patients aged 18 years and over.

For arrangements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, please refer to guidance from your respective health departments.

The latest and most accurate information on availability of centrally supplied vaccines for the children’s flu programme is available on the ImmForm news page at all times. It is strongly advised that all parties involved in the provision of influenza vaccines to children ensure they remain up to date with this.

The table below shows the 3 vaccines available in England, and the groups these vaccines should be ordered for:

Vaccine Manufacturer Available to order for
Fluenz® Tetra (LAIV) AstraZeneca All children aged 2 and 3 years, those in eligible school age cohorts, and children in clinical risk groups aged 2 to less than 18 years [footnote 3]
Cell Based Quadrivalent Influenza Vaccine (Surface Antigen, Inactivated) (QIVc) Seqirus Eligible children [footnote 4] for whom LAIV is unsuitable
Quadrivalent Influenza Vaccine (split virion, inactivated) (QIVe) Sanofi Pasteur Children in clinical risk groups aged 6 months to less than 2 years

LAIV ordering information for General Practice

As in previous years, ordering controls are in place for general practices, to enable UKHSA to balance incoming supply with demand. These controls work by allocating an amount of LAIV based on the number of registered eligible patients and are tailored to each practice.

Please note the following if you are ordering for general practice:

  • at the time of publication, each GP practice has been allocated sufficient LAIV to vaccinate up to 55% of their eligible patients (all 2 and 3 year olds, plus children in clinical risk groups from age 4 to less than 18 years)
  • amendments to these allocations may be made, in response to vaccine availability and demand
  • requests for extra vaccine will be considered on a case-by-case basis throughout the ordering period. Requests should be sent to the helpdesk ([email protected]) and in good time before your order cut-off. Out of schedule deliveries will be by exception only

LAIV ordering information for school-age providers

School teams are able to place 2 orders and receive 2 deliveries of LAIV per week, to assist in the management of vaccine volumes required across limited storage space at delivery points.

This will operate on a 48-hour delivery schedule requiring the order to be placed before the 11.55am cut off 2 working days before the required delivery day. The table below illustrates the respective delivery days versus ordering day.

Please remember to take into consideration the bank holidays over Christmas and the New Year as this will affect your delivery day.

Order day (before 11:55am cut-off) Delivery day
Monday Wednesday
Tuesday Thursday
Wednesday Friday
Thursday Monday
Friday Tuesday

Customers must ensure that the point of delivery will be open and manned on the delivery day when placing orders.

Please note that this does not affect the ordering and delivery schedule of any other vaccines (including inactivated flu vaccines) ordered from ImmForm and is applicable to Fluenz® Tetra (LAIV) only.

A default weekly ordering cap of 400 packs (4,000 doses) per week is in place for school provider accounts. This can be split as required across 2 orders or placed as one order if preferred.

Where this cap is insufficient and a provider needs a larger weekly volume of vaccine to deliver the programme (for example where a provider covers a large area using a single account), a higher weekly cap should be requested via the UKHSA Flu Vaccine Operations team by emailing <mail:[email protected]>

Please ensure that this request is made at least 48 hours before an order larger than 400 packs needs to be placed, to allow time for your account to be set up correctly.

For one-off larger orders during the ordering period, requests should be made via [email protected]

Inactivated flu vaccine ordering

Two inactivated flu vaccines are also available for children for the 2022 to 2023 season:

  • quadrivalent Influenza Vaccine (split virion, inactivated) (QIVe) which should only be ordered for children in clinical risk groups aged from six months to less than 2 years old, with an initial order cap of 3 doses per week (supplied in a single dose pack)
  • cell Based Quadrivalent Influenza Vaccine (Surface Antigen, Inactivated) (QIVc), which is available to order for:
    • children aged 2 to less than 18 years old in clinical risk groups for whom LAIV is clinically contraindicated or otherwise unsuitable; and
    • healthy children from 2 years of age to those in school year 9, for whom LAIV is unsuitable (for example, due to objection to LAIV on the grounds of its porcine gelatine content). This vaccine is available in a single dose pack to: * GPs, with an initial order cap of 10 doses per week * school-age providers, with an order cap of 400 doses per week

For one-off larger orders of inactivated vaccines, requests should be made via [email protected] in good time before your order cut-off.

Order and delivery days for inactivated vaccines for school providers will be made as per the routine ordering and delivery days set for other childhood vaccines, and not per the 48-hour delivery schedule available for LAIV.

All influenza vaccines for the 2022 to 2023 season

Information on all influenza vaccines that have been marketed in the UK for the 2022 to 2023 season are available.

Vaccine supply for non-routine vaccination programme

Hepatitis A vaccine

Adult

  • GSK: Havrix adult pre-filled syringe (PFS) singles and packs of 10 are available
  • Sanofi Pasteur: Avaxim PFS singles and packs of 10 are currently available
  • MSD: VAQTA adult is available

Paediatric

  • GSK: Havrix paediatric PFS singles and packs of 10 are available
  • MSD: VAQTA paediatric is available

Hepatitis B vaccine

Adult

  • GSK: Engerix B PFS singles and packs of 10 are currently available
  • GSK: Fendrix is available
  • MSD: HBVAXPRO 10 µg is available
  • MSD: HBVAXPRO 40 µg is available

Paediatric

  • GSK: supplies of Engerix B paediatric singles is currently available
  • MSD: HBVAXPRO 5µg is available

Combined hepatitis A and B vaccine

  • GSK: Twinrix adult singles and packs of 10 are available
  • GSK: Twinrix paediatric is available
  • GSK: Ambirix is available

Combined hepatitis A and typhoid vaccine

  • Sanofi Pasteur: Viatim is now a discontinued product and no longer available for sale

Typhoid vaccine

  • Sanofi Pasteur: Typhim singles and packs of 10 are available with restrictions
  • Emergent: Vivotif is available

Rabies vaccine

  • Valneva: Rabipur is currently unavailable
  • Sanofi Pasteur: Rabies BP is now a discontinued product and no longer available for sale

Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV)

  • MSD: supply of Pneumovax 23 (PPV23) PFS is available

Pneumococcal polysaccharide conjugate vaccine (PCV)

  • Pfizer: Prevenar 13 is currently available

Varicella Zoster vaccine

  • GSK: Supply of VARILRIX is out of stock (OOS) – resupply expected in December
  • MSD: VARIVAX is available
  • MSD: ZOSTAVAX is available

Diphtheria, tetanus and poliomyelitis (inactivated) vaccine

  • Sanofi Pasteur: Revaxis is available

Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (acellular) and poliomyelitis (inactivated) vaccine

  • GSK: supply of Boostrix-IPV is currently available
  • Sanofi Pasteur: Repevax is available

MMR vaccine

  • MSD: MMR Vaxpro is available
  • GSK: Priorix is currently available

Meningitis ACWY vaccine

  • GSK: Menveo is available
  • Pfizer: Nimenrix is available
  • Sanofi Pasteur: MenQuadfi is available

Yellow fever vaccine

  • Sanofi Pasteur: Stamaril is available

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine

  • MSD: GARDASIL has been discontinued (please refer to ImmForm for NIP supply status)
  • MSD: Gardasil 9 is currently available
  • GSK: Cervarix has been discontinued

Cholera vaccine

  • Valneva: Dukoral is currently unavailable. Resupply is December 2022

Japanese encephalytis vaccine

  • Valneva: Ixiaro is unavailable. Next resupply expected in December 2022
  1. Printed expiry date for batch PH3539 is 3 January 2023, please do not use after the updated expiry date. 

  2. Printed expiry date for batch PH2004 is 27 December 2022, please do not use after the updated expiry date. 

  3. Unless clinically contraindicated or otherwise unsuitable. 

  4. Children in clinical risk groups aged 2 to less than 18 years, healthy children aged 2 to 3 years, and those in eligible school age cohorts.