London's Big Week flu vaccination campaign begins today, 9 November, with NHS teams taking the jab into community venues across north east London in a push to lift uptake before winter pressures peak.

The campaign, which runs until 16 November, is organised by NHS North East London. Vaccination teams are visiting libraries, community centres, places of worship and town halls, and eligible people can also walk into a participating pharmacy or book a flu vaccination online through the NHS.

Events are already under way today. In Redbridge, a session runs from 11am to 3pm at Redbridge Central Library in Ilford. In Tower Hamlets, vaccinations are available from 10am to 3pm at the Grocers Wing of Tower Hamlets Town Hall on Whitechapel Road. Further sessions follow through the week, including in Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Havering, Newham and Waltham Forest.

The push comes as the latest official surveillance shows flu vaccine uptake running behind last season in several groups. The UK Health Security Agency's national flu and COVID-19 surveillance report for week 45, published on 5 November and covering data up to 1 November, found uptake lower than the equivalent week last season among patients aged 65 and over, at 59.1 per cent compared with 61.5 per cent.

Uptake was also lower among patients aged six months to under 65 in clinical risk groups, at 27.9 per cent against 28.9 per cent last season, and among two-year-olds and three-year-olds. The one group running ahead of last season was pregnant women, at 31.1 per cent compared with 29.7 per cent.

Flu itself is circulating at low levels, but the report says activity is now above baseline levels, and a briefing note has been issued to the NHS to that effect. Emergency department attendances for flu-like illness increased slightly and were above seasonally expected levels. The weekly hospital admission rate for influenza rose to 2.83 per 100,000, up from 2.51 the previous week, and laboratory positivity increased to 7.6 per cent from 6.8 per cent.

COVID-19 activity, by contrast, decreased and is circulating at low levels, while respiratory syncytial virus, known as RSV, increased and is circulating at baseline levels. By the end of week 44, 47.7 per cent of people aged 75 and over in England had received an autumn 2026 COVID-19 dose, along with 20.5 per cent of people under 75 with a weakened immune system.

The flu vaccination programme is aimed at people most at risk of becoming seriously ill, including older people, people with long-term health conditions, pregnant women and young children. The NHS says the vaccine is the best protection against flu, which can lead to hospital admission and, in the most serious cases, death.

Eligible Londoners who have not yet had their jab can attend one of the Big Week community sessions, visit a participating pharmacy, or book through the NHS website or app. People who are unsure whether they qualify for a free NHS flu vaccination can check their eligibility on the NHS website.