Boots charging £19.95 for a flu jab

[DustyLee123]

That’s a lot isn’t it ? I thought they were about £10 in supermarkets

They can charge whatever they want. The jabs you pay for are private jabs so they can charge whatever they want.

That’s not what I’m asking, I’m asking if we should go elsewhere, where it will be cheaper. He was eligible for a free one last year.

That wasn't what you asked, but if that's what you want to know then yes it's a lot and you can probably get it either cheaper or free elsewhere

Boots are a business, they can charge what they like 🤷‍♀️ it's not set by the government or NHS or anything

Lloyds were offering them for about £15 but cancelled my appt's, all 3 of them at short notice. Boots had plenty of appointments and a great service.
You pays your money, you takes your choice!

The nhs flu vaccine programme doesn't start til September, I don't think. So at the moment, there won't be much competition for Boots... who were absolutely shocking the past two years I've been. Last year, I cancelled when they messed me around, yet again, and went elsewhere.
Last winter, chemists were charging between £10-£15.

Thank you

Most of the Lloyds pharmacy branches in supermarkets seem to be closing. £20 sounds normal round here (London).

15 mins appointment = jab plus cost of employee salary, NI, etc.

Let's say the total overhead cost for the member of staff trained to inject correctly and deal with a medical
emergency is £20per hr excluding premises and other overheads
So £5 for 15 mins plus the cost of a jab. Using your pricing that's £10 plus a £5 before any other overheads like insurance, premises etc and let's say a small profit.

I'm really not having a go but it blows my mind what the NHS does for peoples expectation of cost. This would be €50 in Ireland just for the appointment and god knows what in the USA.

For the sake of a tenner?

Depends if you can be bothered shopping around. Seems a reasonable cost to me!

Asda were much cheaper than Boots last year - haven't shopped around yet this year.

The chemist is walkable, Boots isn’t.

So worth it to avoid flu. Flu is foul.

Why eligible last year and not this year?

They've gone back to the pre-covid eligibility of having to be 65+ as per WHO guidelines. With certain exceptions such as carers, having certain medical conditions, etc.

No I don't think it's a lot . What do you pay for a Mascara or lippy? It's medicine . Also depends how much you really want to avoid Flu . Those who really do need it won't pay .

Well go to the chemist then 🤷‍♀️

It's a lot of money for people on a low income. Especially in a COL crisis. If it's a choice between food for your family and a jab that may well stop you from getting ill and needing to survive on SSP, that's bloody tough.

Don't know why you're getting such a hard time, some people don't have a spare tenner some months and it's not unreasonable to make your own choice.
I had my flu jab in boots in 2020 and I'm sure it was £12, in 2021 it then increased to around £15 so I'm surprised it's increased again so soon.

I'd shop around to save a tenner.

Actually, that wasn't what you asked. You said nothing about whether you should go elsewhere. You were quite rude to a poster who answered the actual question you asked - was it expensive? The answer is not really, but there will be a variety of potential prices.

Tesco were £11 last winter.
I doubt they have this winter's allocation yet. That might determine the price.

It is an unusual time of year for a flu vaccine. If you wait a couple of months, you might find others announce cheaper prices than the (summer) boots one.

Asda are usually cheaper
Mine is free but I haven't started thinking about it yet (work also pay for ours if we aren't eligible)

I don't know why people are making so much of this. Boots is charging £19.95 for a flu jab. Last year Tesco were charging £11. If they charge that this year, even though I could easily afford £19.95, I'm going to go for the £11 option.

I shall ring round for prices before I go. I won't be going to Boots again because they were shambolic. I think they actually charged £15 last year. So this year is a 33% increase on that. I don't know why the op should be criticised for checking prices.

But as the nhs flu programme doesn't start til September, most places won't be jabbing at the moment so we don't know what they'll be charging.

Not sure why people are getting so flippin' uppity about what the OP was asking, it's obvious she was wondering how the price in Boots compares to elsewhere, and asking how much it might be in a supermarket.

I paid £15 last year in Lloyds.