Wojciech Strozyk / Alamy Stock Photo
Nearly nine out of ten (88%) pharmacies have experienced verbal or physical intimidation from patients who were ineligible for COVID-19 vaccinations, a survey conducted by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has revealed.
Results of the survey, published on 19 January 2026, also found that some respondents reported instances of being spat at or pushed by “a minority of frustrated patients”.
The NPA surveyed 450 pharmacies in England between 17 October 2025 and 24 October 2025.
In addition, the survey results showed that “at least half” of the average pharmacy’s COVID-19 vaccination appointments were made by people who were not eligible for the NHS vaccine.
From autumn 2025, the eligible cohorts for COVID-19 vaccinations changed to only include adults aged 75 years and over, residents in care homes for older adults and individuals who are immunosuppressed aged 6 months and over.
Cohorts who were eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations in 2024, such as people aged 65–74 years and everyone aged 6 months and over in a clinical risk group, are now excluded from the list.
In October 2025, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) said it had received reports of “high numbers of ineligible people presenting for COVID-19 vaccinations who had booked appointments via the national booking system”.
CPE added that pharmacy teams were having to spend a large amount of unfunded time explaining the situation to patients, who were sometimes abusive to pharmacy team members.
“The national [booking] system allowed these patients to book appointments anyway, causing large numbers to arrive at pharmacies across England who were not eligible for NHS vaccination,” CPE said.
The NPA is calling for pharmacies to receive compensation for staff time and resources spent managing ineligible bookings.
“Although the full detail is still to be understood, the NPA estimates pharmacies could be owed at least £2m a day in wasted costs,” it said.
Henry Gregg, chief executive of the NPA, commented: “It is disgusting to learn of pharmacists being spat at by disgruntled individuals and any physical intimidation or abuse is utterly unacceptable.
“Although some of the cost to pharmacies can be quantified, such as staff time wasted or the cost of vaccination supply, other consequences, such as the loss of reputation and the impact of abuse, cannot be.
“The NHS must learn the lessons from this issue for future years. This includes doing the right thing and compensating pharmacies for losses made during this process.”
Previously, CPE had also called for pharmacies to be compensated for the time they spent managing ineligible patients. However, in a briefing document published in December 2025, CPE said that NHS England had rejected that call.
CPE added that NHS England had said that “further funding was not available”, but they had done considerable work to improve communications on this matter following CPE’s representations.
Commenting on the NPA’s survey, Janet Morrison, chief executive of CPE, said: “The issues with COVID-19 vaccination confusion at the start of the season impacted on pharmacy teams in numerous ways, and this is why we argued that they should receive compensation for this.
“All costs to businesses from delivering NHS services need to be covered by NHS funding — anything less is neither acceptable nor sustainable. Unfortunately, incidences of patient aggression and abuse of pharmacy teams only seem to be increasing, and this is adding to the immense pressures that pharmacy owners and their teams are already working under.”
A spokesperson for NHS England said: “Abuse against healthcare staff is never acceptable and colleagues deserve to be treated with respect.
“Eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine changed [in 2025] following updated guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation — and we updated information on the NHS website to make people aware of the changes, as well as contacting key groups affected.”
