Will front line nursing staff get a free covid vaccination this year 2025 in Scotland - NO

13th October 2025

Frontline nursing staff will not be automatically eligible for a free COVID-19 vaccination in Scotland during the 2025 autumn/winter program.

The policy, based on advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), has changed to focus on the highest-risk groups.

COVID-19 vaccine eligibility
For the autumn/winter 2025 program in Scotland, a free COVID-19 vaccine is only being offered to a more limited number of groups:
Adults aged 75 years and over.
Residents in care homes for older adults.
Individuals aged 6 months and over who are immunosuppressed.

Reasons for the policy change
High population immunity: The JCVI determined that with high levels of immunity in the general population, additional COVID-19 vaccine doses offer very limited protection against infection and transmission.

Reduced effectiveness: The vaccination's impact on reducing staff sickness absences is now considered very limited.

Targeted protection: The program's focus has shifted to protecting the most vulnerable individuals who are at the greatest risk of serious disease.

Flu vaccine eligibility
While not eligible for a free COVID-19 vaccine, frontline health and social care workers in Scotland will be offered a free flu vaccine in 2025 to help protect vulnerable patients and reduce staff absences.

Staff with other health conditions
Frontline healthcare workers who are not automatically eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine may still receive one if they fall into one of the priority groups due to their own health conditions, such as being immunosuppressed.

Roy Lilley NHS Managers commented today -
The NHS will tell its own people; they'll have to buy their booster-jab this year.

Yes, really... frontline staff! The people who keep the show on the road, will have to queue at the pharmacy, behind the old geezers... credit card in hand… to protect themselves, their patients and...

... the service that employs them.

It's the sort of policy you’d expect from a numpty who’s never managed a rota, never seen an infection control log and never had to staff a ward… when half the team’s gone sick.

The numbers tell the story.

Staff sickness absence hovers around 5-6%. That’s ~50% higher than before the pandemic. Mental health remains the top cause but respiratory bugs, including Covid, still knock-out tens of thousands of staff every winter.

One nurse, off-sick, means a clinic delayed; two off-sick means an operation cancelled... you get the picture.

At a time when every pair of hands counts, the government has decided not to protect the workforce that keeps the NHS functioning.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, (aka the Joint Committee on Vacuous Ignorance), has ruled that only the elderly, the immunosuppressed and care-home residents will get the Covid booster free.

Everyone else… including NHS staff, can go private.

You might save a few quid on vaccines, but you’ll lose it on agency bills and cancelled lists.

A day’s absence costs far more than a dose of vaccine. A single outbreak on a ward can wipe-out a week’s worth of elective work. The maths isn’t hard… and…

… it’s not just theory.

We’ve known for years that vaccinating healthcare workers pays-back. During flu seasons, vaccinated staff are off-sick less often, spread fewer infections and keep services running.

The same logic applies to Covid. A vaccinated workforce is a resilient workforce. A coughing, spluttering one, isn’t.

The official line is that the ‘marginal benefit’ of vaccinating younger, healthier adults is small.

Maybe… but this isn’t just about the staff. It’s about their patients, the vulnerable, the frail, the immunosuppressed and the unlucky.

The NHS exists to protect them…you can’t do that if your workforce is passing infection around.

It’s also a matter of respect. After some recent brutal years, NHS staff deserve more than a pat on the back and a bill for their own jab.

Infection control isn’t a lifestyle choice…it’s a professional duty. Employers have a moral and occupational responsibility to protect their workers and their patients.

That’s not politics, it’s common-sense.

In the end, this isn’t about money or medicine. It’s about leadership. You don’t run a health service on applause and austerity.

You run it by keeping the people in it, healthy.

The NHS is our biggest employer and in many respects it’s our worst. Now it’s in danger of becoming a case-study in false economy.

A free jab for staff isn’t generosity it’s self-preservation.

I’d guess the estimated wholesale-cost of Covid vaccines, for all frontline NHS staff is around £14 million.


(⇒ 919,682 FL staff x £15, estimated cost of vaccine) = ~£13.8 million

Compare this with sickness absence…

⊢ an average daily cost of £400 per staff member, including salary, benefits and overheads.

Daily cost of sickness absence: for a 5.7% absence rate is ~£56 million.

Annual cost of sickness absence: extrapolating the daily figure over a year: the total annual becomes ~ £20.4bn.

The cost of vaccinating frontline staff is approximately 0.07% of the annual expenditure.

Compared with agency staff expenditure… the vaccination cost is about 0.4% of the annual expenditure.

The business of the NHS is health creation...

... not running a casino... taking bets on the future. Infections always do damage. We know that. This year will be no different.

If the NHS won’t protect its own, who will?

I’m amazed the RCN, the BMA, the Confed’, Providers, the Unions aren’t raising hell about this…
… if they don’t…
...cancel your subscriptions...
... use the money to buy yer own jab.