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The world’s first ever gonorrhoea vaccination is being provided by the NHS and local authorities in England from today, although community pharmacies will not be commissioned to take part in the programme.

The Government said people at highest risk of infection from the disease, such as gay and bisexual men who have a recent history of multiple sexual partners and a bacterial sexually transmitted disease in the previous 12 months, will be able to get the 4CMenB vaccine in sexual health clinics.

However, NHS England told Independent Community Pharmacist the vaccine will not be available in pharmacies. An NHSE spokesperson said: “The policy only includes gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men at high-risk of infection getting vaccinated at sexual health services.”

Labour said the rollout of free vaccines will “potentially” prevent up to 100,000 cases of gonorrhoea and reduce pressure “on vital NHS services”, generating more than £7.9 million in savings over the next 10 years.

The programme, which it said will help fight increasing levels of antibiotic-resistant strains of the disease, is part of its desire to shift the health service’s focus from treatment to prevention.

The Government did not mention pharmacies in its announcement of the programme this morning and NHSE confirmed pharmacies are not part of the programme at a time when diagnoses of gonorrhoea have reached their highest levels since records began.

A record 85,000 cases of the disease were reported in 2023, three times higher than 2012.

Health minister Ashley Dalton said rolling out the programme in sexual health clinics “represents a major breakthrough in preventing a gonorrhoea infection that has reached record levels”.

“This government’s world-first vaccination programme will help turn the tide on infections, as well as tackling head-on the growing threat of antibiotic resistance,” she said.

In May, NHS England told ICP the vaccines will be delivered by “sexual health providers” through a range of channels, including integrated care boards, NHS trusts, sexual health services, HIV clinics and local authority sexual commissioner leads.

At the time, the National Pharmacy Association and Company Chemists’ Association reacted enthusiastically to the scheme’s rollout but cautioned if pharmacies were to play a part, they needed to be funded properly.