Combination Flu and Covid Clinics searches 2025/26
Overview
PCIT covid and flu searches are split into two separate folders:
005 COVID vaccination programme
016 Seasonal Influenza
Now that more practices are co-administering COVID and flu outside of PCN hubs, PCIT have recently had requests for recall searches that identify patients eligible for both COVID and flu vaccinations and those who are only eligible for flu vaccinations. Building these as separate searches would currently involve making significant changes to existing searches and search folders and PCIT are aware that making these types of changes once practices have already started the recall process could cause a lot of confusion at a very busy time.
For autumn 2025/26 PCIT have therefore created the following recommendation for how to use our existing searches to identify patients eligible for both vaccinations or only eligible for flu vaccination. Please note that due to changes in the recommend cohorts for COVID autumn boosters this year and changes in the flu vaccines recommended for first line delivery, there are no cohorts listed in the Green Book that are eligible for a COVID booster, who are not also eligible for the seasonal influenza vaccination.
The combined Flu/COVID Searches
PCIT has has created the following searches in order for users to identify patients that require an invitation for BOTH COVID and flu vaccination OR flu vaccination only.
The table below provides a description of each search:
Search name | Description |
| SIV-Flu and COVID recall (care home) | This search identifies patients living in a care home who are eligible for BOTH flu and COVID vaccinations, and who have neither received nor declined the vaccinations. |
SIV-Flu and COVID recall (Housebound) | This search identifies housebound patients who are eligible for BOTH flu and COVID vaccinations. They have neither received nor declined the vaccinations. |
SIV-Flu and COVID recall (excluding Housebound + care home) | This search identifies patients who are eligible for COVID vaccination since they would also be eligible for flu. The patients are neither housebound nor living in the care home, and have neither received nor declined the vaccinations. The specific age groups are: - All patients over 75 years old - All patients under 75 who have a persisting immunosuppression Please note that there maybe patients who are eligible for COVID that need to be reviewed first to determine the severity of their immunosuppression |
SIV-Flu ONLY recall (2-3 year old and under 18 at risk ) | This search identifies children who are eligible for flu but NOT COVID vaccination, who are not housebound nor living in a care home. The age group are - Age between 2- 3 years old - Age 6 months - under 2 years old with at risk conditions - School years 12 and 13 with at risk conditions Any other under 18 years old are managed routinely by the school vaccination programme. |
SIV-Flu ONLY recall (housebound) | This search identifies housebound patient who are eligible for flu but not COVID vaccination, and who have neither received nor declined the vaccination. These are housebound patients who immunocompetent and under the age of 75 |
SIV-Flu ONLY recall (over 65y) | This search identifies patients who are between the age between 65 and 74 and eligible for flu but not COVID vaccination, and who have neither received nor declined the vaccination. |
SIV-Flu ONLY recall (under 65y at risk) | This search identifies patients under 65 who are immunosuppressed and eligible for the flu (but not the COVID vaccination). They are not living in a care home nor coded as housebound, and they have neither received nor declined the vaccination. |
The NHS letter about the seasonal vaccination programmes specified patients living in older adult care homes. It is not possible to build a search that identifies exactly this characteristic since there is no set age for patients to live in an older adult care home. Younger patients living in a qualifying setting would still be eligible, and some Practices may take the view that all care home residents are a vulnerable group who should be vaccinated in any case. It is envisaged that the recall search for care homes would be taken by a Practice for direct management (ie: arranging a site visit without needing to invite patients).
Related Articles
034B Eligible for shingles vaccination searches
This folder now sits within 034 Eligibility. It was previously found in 020 Practice Administration. The shingles eligibility searches were completely re-written to account for the changes to the vaccination programme from September 2023. These ...034E Eligible for Pertussis in pregnancy searches
This folder sits within Primary care IT - Reporting Group within folder 034 Eligibility. The programme for pregnant patients of at least 20 weeks' gestation is designed to protect infants in utero, conferring immunity before they are born to protect ...005. COVID vaccination programme searches
Introduction There are currently 5 folders (categories): 005A COVID vaccination uptake 005B COVID booster recalls AUTUMN 005B COVID booster recalls SPRING 005C COVID at-risk children 005Q COVID data quality Click on the links to see more detailed ...005B COVID booster recall
The COVID booster recall has become a seasonal event, with different eligibility criteria for Spring and Autumn campaigns. These reports identify patients over the age of 6 months who would be eligible to receive a COVID (booster) vaccination. It ...Eligible for Flu vaccination
Overview/Purpose This protocol allows users to check patients to see if they are eligible for a influenza vaccination. What does it do? This protocol is available for users to launch manually to check whether patients are eligible for a influenza ...