News & Insights

As more people are coming through the doors of vaccine centres, so too are the range of individual circumstances and the queries we are seeing at the Immunisation Advisory Centre to confirm eligibility. The Immunisation Advisory Centre would like to take this opportunity to emphasise that in most cases, the vaccine is safe to deliver. Importantly, vaccination should not be delayed. 

It is safe to vaccinate:

• Pregnant women in any stage of pregnancy.
• People who have had any other vaccines recently - COVID-19 vaccine can be given at the same time or immediately before or after other vaccines, including MMR, influenza, whooping cough and tetanus, shingles (Shingrix) and meningococcal vaccines.
• People with any medical condition or receiving any type of medical treatment. There are no medical conditions, past or current, or medicines that prevent a person receiving a COVID-19 vaccination. The vaccine is safe for people with compromised immune systems, however they may not have an immune response as strong as a healthy person and it is therefore important for those around them to also have the vaccine.
• People with history of anaphylaxis as long as it was not caused by the vaccine or something in the vaccine. Vaccinators will discuss this in detail at time of vaccination.
• People aged 12 years or over but not for anyone under 12 at the moment.
• People who are not competent to give consent can be vaccinated if the treatment is seen as in the best interest of the person – see guidance set out in the Immunisation Handbook.

For more detailed information please refer to the Immunisation Handbook.