National Immunisation Advisory Committees (NIAC) work has become a statutory function of the Health, Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). As a result, NIAC information and resources, including their recommendations and the Immunisation Guidelines for Ireland, are now available at hiqa.ie. NIAC ‘Chapter 5a COVID-19’ and ‘Chapter 11 Influenza’ have been updated.
HSE National Immunisation Office (NIO) have updated all clinical materials, and they are available at immunisation.ie > Healthcare Worker Information. These include, amongst other resources, consent forms, FAQs and vaccine patient information leaflets.
The HSE Vaccination Primary Care Contractors (VPCC) team lead in the planning and delivery of vaccination services within primary care. They are the main point of contact for pharmacists and for the IPU in relation to operational matters. The National COVID-19 and Influenza Vaccination Programme Operational Guidance for Community Pharmacy and other information pertaining to the operation of national vaccination programmes, including ‘Pharmacy Support Contact Details’ and ‘Guidance Notes’ on a wide variety of issues such as ordering of consumables (including waste/sharps bins removal), can be found at hse.ie/eng/about/who > National Contracts Office > Vaccination Primary Care Contractors Programme.
Pharmacies are key in providing easy access and choice to those who require vaccinations. It is important that pharmacies providing vaccination services are listed on the ‘HSE Pharmacy Finder’, and that this is kept up to date and accurate for each vaccination campaign. Pharmacists are asked to ensure their information is correct and to update their details as required using the online form that can be found on the ‘Pharmacy finder’ webpage, which is available at hse.ie/eng/about/who > National Contracts Office > Vaccination Primary Care Contractors Programme > Information for Community Pharmacies.
The PSI guidance relating to the provision of vaccination services by pharmacists has been updated and is available on the PSI website.
During the summer the PSI carried out a programme of work, which included a review of training requirements in other countries, stakeholder engagement and a pharmacist’s survey to review vaccination and emergency medicines training requirements for pharmacists. Based on the findings from that programme of work, recommendations were made to the PSI Council, and these recommendations were approved. As a result of this work certain changes have occurred in relation to the training requirements pharmacists have to undertake into order to be deemed trained and competent in immunisation practice.
All pharmacists must self-assess on an annual basis whether they are competent to safely administer vaccines and/or medicines, as part of an overall annual self-assessment. The PSI have recently updated the self-assessment tool in relation to vaccinations and emergency medicines.
Many stakeholders cited the requirement for pharmacists to repeat the ‘Medicines Administration (Parenteral) Training Programme (PAMT)’ where they have neither practiced nor been trained on it in the previous 12 months, as being disproportionate. The PSI now requires that this training programme is repeated in circumstances where a pharmacist has had a two-year break in vaccination practice or longer. This change is intended to provide more flexibility for pharmacists returning to work after a break in practice due to illness or maternity leave and would also align with the current requirement to repeat ‘CPR’ and ‘Responding to an Emergency Situation including the Management of Anaphylaxis (RESMA)’ training every two years.
This change is in line with the wider PSI regulatory framework, including CPD requirements and the Code of Conduct for Pharmacists that requires pharmacists to use their professional judgement to determine the limits of their competence and when they need to undertake additional training or update their skills.
Additionally, vaccine specific training on the administration of vaccines is no longer mandatory but remains recommended. Guidance from the PSI now advises that pharmacists are required to have up to date knowledge on any vaccine which is administered and can meet the training requirements in this regard by completing the specific training modules where available, and/or through review of, or having up-to-date knowledge in, the relevant National Immunisation guidelines for Ireland, the Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC) for the vaccine and HSE guidance (where applicable). The Administration of Influenza Vaccine Training Programme for the 2025/26 Season is available on the IIOP website and the HSeLand NIO training module ‘mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine Formulations for children and adults aged 12 years and older’, continues to be available.
To assist you with identifying your training requirements for the supply and administration of vaccinations, the IIOP has developed a ‘Vaccination Training Identification Tool’, which is accessible on their website. The tool is intended to guide and support in identification of pharmacists’ training requirements for the supply and administration of vaccines. The tool is applicable to influenza, COVID-19, pneumococcal and shingles vaccines.
You will find more information in the ‘Vaccinations Training’ section on the PSI website.
Community pharmacy became involved in the LAIV Schools Programme during the 2023/24 season. Since then, community pharmacy has provided an increasingly pivotal role with over 57 per cent of LAIV administration being carried out by the profession last year. This year all providers — pharmacy, GP and HSE teams — will offer LAIV vaccination to all classes in a primary school where they commit to providing the service. HSE teams will also provide the service to all primary age special schools. This approach aims to maximise the coverage in primary schools across the country to improve vaccine uptake and population protection.
The key to providing this service is planning. There are two key pieces of guidance which you should refer to when planning for this service; PSI Guidance to Support Pharmacies in Providing Safe Vaccination Services Offsite from the Pharmacy Premises and the HSE Toolkit to Support the Administration of the Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine (LAIV) Fluenz nasal spray suspension to Children in School or Community Settings by Primary Care.
The Guidance highlights the importance of good governance and takes into account the additional complexity, operational and workflow considerations involved in offsite vaccination services in school settings. Prior to providing a vaccination service at an offsite location, the superintendent pharmacist must ensure amongst other aspects that a robust risk assessment has been undertaken. Risk assessment is an absolutely essential part of the planning process to ensure a clinic will run smoothly and safely. The assessment will enable you to identify hazards and key considerations.
For instance, think about how you are going to manage all aspects of the service: The team you will need to bring to the primary school is critically important. Who will be the lead service coordinator? The lead service coordinator should designate clear roles and responsibilities for all members of the team in advance. This will assist with the safe management of the service and will help provide accountability.
Pharmacists can order the HSE LAIV Nasal Flu School Programme Consent Pack, which contains a Factsheet for Parents and Guardians, the LAIV Consent Form and an information leaflet, from healthpromotion.ie. These materials and the HSE Toolkit are also available to download within the HSE NIO Vaccine Information for Healthcare Professionals, LAIV Programme Materials section.
The IPU will make supports available for members providing this service shortly.
New functionality is available within HSE Pharmavax. Pre-population of demographics from the HSE Data Lake for new client registrations is now available to minimise duplicate records from being created. Additionally, the ability to search Client and Vaccination Lists by a date of birth range has been introduced.
In response to members’ feedback regarding the difficulties reconciling their vaccination payments, detailed and summary business reports are now available. This enables members to generate reports, which clearly display the number of claims which were accepted or rejected by PCRS. The detailed report provides amongst other information a vaccination ID referring to the Pharmavax administration record and a corresponding PCRS claim number. A PCRS rejection reason is also provided. There is now the capacity to do a Claims Date Quick Search (Today, Yesterday, This Month, Last Month). Please note the earliest date for reports is 1 January 2025.
A two-tab approach can be adopted when inputting patients having a vaccine administered at a clinic, such as a primary school vaccination session. In Google Chrome, right click on an open tab and select ‘Duplicate’ to open another active tab. Use one tab for the ‘List Clients’ screen to show a list of school children for example and then use the second tab for ‘Add Vaccinations’. Copy and paste the PPSN from ‘List Clients’ into the ‘Add Vaccinations’ screen search bar, to quickly load the Add Vaccination screen for the selected child. Repeat for each child in the class.
It is advisable to find the school in the ‘Facility Search’ bar at the bottom of the ‘Add Vaccination’ screen for these clinics. Once the correct school has been found, note down the Facility ID or School Role Number on paper if you need to search for the school again. Once the school has been set as the vaccination facility using the ‘Set as Temp Vaccination Location’, then use the ‘Add Vaccination’ screen to enter all the vaccinations for a school using the two-tab approach explained above. The location of the school will be recorded as the default if the ‘Save and add another vaccination’ button is used to save each record.
Further tips and screenshots of the functionality outlined above are available on the IPU Vaccination Hubs in a document called HSE Pharmavax Help Sheet — Autumn Winter Vaccination Programme 2025.
The IPU in collaboration with the HSE NIO hosted a webinar on the ‘Autumn/Winter Vaccination Programme 2025/2026’ on 18 September 2025. The webinar provided a topline overview of the upcoming programme. A recording of the webinar and the accompanying slides are available on the IPU Vaccination Hubs.
The IPU will continue to provide updates via the news section of the IPU website and via the weekly Newsletter, and IPU Vaccination hubs are available at ipu.ie > Professional. You can also contact the IPU Professional Services team pharmacists@ipu.ie should you have any queries/require support in relation to vaccination services.
Susan O’Donnell MPSI
Professional Services Pharmacist, IPU
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