The real cost of a seasonal flu vaccine - with residents of coastal towns facing longest delays

Residents of coastal areas including Devon, Northumberland and Cornwall could be waiting up to 33% longer for their flu jabs this year than those living in bigger cities, new data has found.

The delays could see many forced to spend up to £16.99 to get the vaccine at a local pharmacy - costing both the NHS and the public.

Up to 30 million Britons - or just under half of the population - could receive the vaccine this year, after the government's new marketing campaign urging the public to get jabbed.

This year, vaccine clinics have been extended to those aged 50 to 65, adding 11 million more adults to the usual demand, alongside those considered clinically vulnerable.

But vaccine supply and demand are not evenly matched across the UK, leaving vulnerable people at risk of delays.

Increased demand also puts pressure both on the NHS, and people's budgets - with vaccines for a family of four potentially costing as much as £67.96 if done privately.

Those who choose to get jabbed outside of the health service still put pressure on an already overstretched NHS.

While the flu vaccine costs the consumer up to £16.99 - with some price variation across pharmacies - the NHS then pays £9.58 to the company that administered it, funded by the NHS's vaccination budget.

Surge in demand 'difficult to manage'

7bridges - which used AI simulation and data mapping to analyse the need versus the capability of doctors' surgeries to deliver vaccines - found residents in coastal areas such as Devon, Northumberland and Cornwall may see waits of up to a third longer than people living in cities such as London and Manchester.

According to the 2021 census, the South West has the greatest proportion of over-65s. The data indicates that this area is likely to have the highest number of stretched clinics, with the ability to administer the vaccine much lower than the expected demand.

The North West has the greatest variance when it comes to vaccine requirements. Here, the percentage of registered patients eligible for an NHS jab varies from 17% in some surgeries to 40% in others.

Matei Beremski, CTO and founder of 7bridges, said: "The pandemic has given us all a better understanding of the importance and necessity of vaccines in keeping the population healthy.

"With the broadening of the annual flu vaccine scheme to 50 to 65-year-olds - an estimated group of nearly 11 million - it was likely that surges in demand would make already complex pharmaceutical supply chains even more difficult to manage.

"But although all of the data used by 7bridges to map supply vs demand is publicly available, it is not currently being used to optimise the flu vaccine supply chain and minimise delays.

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

"A successful rollout in this case would be parity between the times different regions are waiting for their flu jabs but, by using our AI to map supply and demand, we found that this is simply not the case.

"Our data gives a snapshot of the reality that away from cities, where the average age of residents is usually lower, many coastal and Northern regions are going to feel the impact of bottlenecks in the supply chain."