Clare Pharmacy offering Flu and Covid boosters this Autumn

From Wednesday 1st October, we at Clare Pharmacy will be reopening our vaccination centres at the Old Goods Shed in Clare Castle Country Park, and the Stourview Medical Centre in Haverhill, for the seasonal Covid and Flu jabs.  Clare Pharmacy | Vaccinations Autumn/Winter 2025

If you have had the Flu vaccines in the past, you should be eligible again this year as the criteria are the same: those aged 65 years and over, and people who are ‘at risk’ due to health conditions such as diabetes, heart conditions or serious breathing difficulties. 

Usually, at risk individuals are able to get the Autumn Covid booster, with the most vulnerable receiving an additional dose in the Spring. However, the eligibility criteria for the Autumn 2025 Covid booster has changed from the last Autumn, and is going to be available only to those aged 75 years and over or people whose immune system is suppressed. Examples of immunosuppression would include people with Leukaemia, HIV/AIDS, or people taking medications that suppress their immune system for cancer treatment, arthritis or because they have had a transplant. If you are unsure whether you can get a vaccine, please call us or visit our ‘Vaccinations’ page to see more information.

You may be asking yourself whether it is really worthwhile getting another vaccine, since you have already had so many, or because last time you didn’t feel yourself afterwards, and though the choice is yours and yours alone, it is important to understand the benefits of getting vaccinated.

COVID-19 and Influenza are both diseases caused by viruses, and due to the way these viruses reproduce themselves, the way they look to our bodies can change a huge amount from previous infections. This means that you can catch Flu or Covid again after you have been infected or vaccinated in the past. Vaccines effectively show your immune system parts of the viruses so that it will recognise the real viruses when they come around, and if the virus changes those parts, the virus will again be unfamiliar to your body. This is why there are new Flu and Covid boosters every year. Note that the vaccine only contains ‘parts’ of the virus, the Covid and Flu vaccines do not contain any live viruses and you can’t get the Flu or Covid from having them. 

If the vaccine can’t give you Covid or Flu, why did you feel unwell? Because the vaccine is showing parts of the virus to your body, your body recognises that they don’t belong there and produces a response, and part of this could be a fever or feeling a bit ill. You may feel bad for a few days, but your immune system is learning to remember the tell-tale parts of the virus and will be prepared if it sees the virus again, meaning you will recover quicker and have a lower chance of being hospitalised should you be infected. 

If you are eligible and would like your vaccine, you can book on our website Clare Pharmacy | Vaccinations Autumn/Winter 2025 or by calling the NHS booking line on 119.