COVID-19 vaccine

The autumn and winter vaccination programme, which includes the COVID-19 and flu vaccine, is available for eligible people in Northern Ireland.

Autumn/ winter 2025/26 programme

The vaccination programme, to help protect Northern Ireland against deadly viruses ahead of Winter, is now available until January 2026.

You will be offered the COVID-19 vaccine if you are:

aged 75 and over
a resident or staff member in a care home
aged six months to 74 years and immunosuppressed

If you are eligible for vaccination against COVID-19 or flu this autumn and winter, you should make yourself aware of your own GP surgery’s or community pharmacist’s vaccination arrangements and work with them to get vaccinated.

You may be eligible for both the flu and the COVID-19 vaccines.

If you're offered both vaccines, it's safe to have them at the same time.

Where to get your COVID-19 vaccine

GP surgeries

You can get the COVID-19 vaccine from your GP surgery if you are:

aged 75 and over
18 to 74 years old and immunosuppressed
Your local doctor

Community pharmacies

Participating community pharmacies are offering the COVID-19 vaccine to:

care home residents
people aged 75 and over
those aged 18 to 74 who are immunosuppressed
Find a vaccination clinic

HSC Trust clinics

You can get the COVID-19 vaccine from a HSC Trust clinic if you are:

a frontline HSC worker
six months to 17 years old and immunosuppressed

If you are housebound and fall within an eligible group, a HSC Trust team will be in touch to arrange your vaccination.

You can book a vaccine appointment at your local HSC Trust clinic at the link below:

Get vaccinated

More information about who can get the flu vaccine is available at:

Flu vaccine

Infant programme

The COVID-19 vaccine is being offered to children aged six months to four years who are immunosuppressed, in line with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice.

Children at serious risk from the complications of coronavirus infection include those:

with severe neurodisabilities
whose immune systems don’t work as well (immunosuppression)
with profound and multiple or severe learning disabilities (including Down’s syndrome) and those on the learning disability register
with long term serious conditions affecting their health

Some parents may receive a letter or a phone call to invite their child to an HSC Trust clinic for vaccination.

If you receive an invitation letter, it will explain how to make the appointment for your child.

The leaflet to support parents of children at serious risk from the complications of coronavirus infection is available at:

COVID-19: A guide for parents of children six months to four years of age at high risk

Young people aged five to 17 years

Some young people are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine if they are between the ages of five and 17 and immunosuppressed.

Further information is available at:

Pregnant or believe to be pregnant

Covid-19 vaccination is no longer routinely recommended during pregnancy.

However, you may still be eligible if you are immunosuppressed. The vaccine can be given safely given:

at any stage of pregnancy
during the postpartum period.

If you think you may be eligible, speak to your midwife or GP for advice.

First doses of COVID-19 vaccine

If you have never received a COVID-19 vaccine, you can receive a vaccine during the autumn/ winter programme.

Further information about the vaccine

The Public Health Agency has developed a range of leaflets and a frequently asked questions section:

COVID-19 vaccination programme

Types of vaccine

There are many different types of coronavirus vaccines.

The vaccine that will be administered during the autumn 2025/26 programme is COVID-19 Comirnaty® JN.1 (Pfizer) dispersion for injection (infant and adolescent formulas).

Vaccine safety

The vaccine has met strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness set out by the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

More information is available at:

Coronavirus (COVID-19): vaccine safety

Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine research registry

The NHS COVID-19 vaccine registry allows members of the public to register their interest and be contacted to take in clinical studies.

If you are 18 years old or over and live in the UK, you can sign up to give permission for researchers to contact you about taking part in COVID-19 vaccine studies.

You are not signing up to take part in a specific health study when you use this service. You are letting researchers know you're happy for them to contact you if they think you might be suitable to take part in their studies.

More information about taking part in research and other opportunities to take part in COVID-19 research can be found at:

Be part of research

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