What was claimed
GPs will be given £12.58 per Covid vaccine dose.
Our verdict
This is correct. This is an “item of service fee”, that covers the cost of providing this treatment.
The figure for a dose of a potential Covid-19 vaccine covers the cost of delivering the treatment
17 November 2020
We’ve been asked whether it is true that GPs will be paid to give people vaccinations.
We’ve seen variants of this claim posted in relation to both the flu vaccine and a potential Covid-19 vaccine with some stating that GPs will receive £12.58 per Covid vaccine dose.
This is correct, as GP practices are run as businesses which are contracted to provide various services to the NHS.
In a letter sent to GPs on 9 November, NHS England said that it had agreed with the British Medical Association that the “Item of Service fee” for a potential Covid vaccine would be £12.58 per dose (and so £25.16 for a two dose vaccine such as the one produced by Pfizer and BioNTech). The letter also confirms that the fee for the flu jab will remain £10.06.
This fee covers the cost associated with providing the vaccination, and is paid by the NHS to practices. It is used to pay for costs associated with providing the treatment.
According to the NHS, the fee for the Covid-19 vaccine is higher than the flu vaccine to cover associated costs “including training, the need for post-vaccine observation and any associated costs thereafter”.
In England, GP practices are independent private companies that provide services in line with one of a number of contracts outlined by the NHS. Practices are usually run by a GP partnership.
The health think tank The King’s Fund says: “This involves two or more GPs, sometimes with nurses, practice managers and others (as long as at least one partner is a GP), working together as business partners, pooling resources, such as buildings and staff, and together owning a stake in the practice business.”
Practices have many different streams of income and many things they need to spend this income on, but the majority of it comes from a formula called “Global sum allocation” which is based on how many patients are on the practice's books, and their needs.
They also receive money for “enhanced services” which include the flu and Covid-19 vaccines.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as missing context as this is the amount GPs will be paid to deliver one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.