# Flu Vaccine Price Increase



## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

I had my flu jab this morning. I have to pay for it as I'm under 65 and don't have a chronic condition which entitles me to a free one. Last year I remember that it cost €8 from the farmacia, but this time I paid €14.83. That seems a big increase, does anyone know why that should be?


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## Hepa (Apr 2, 2018)

Have never had a flu vaccine injection, I had flu in my mid teens but never since, and I am now well past my sell by date.


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

Lynn R said:


> I had my flu jab this morning. I have to pay for it as I'm under 65 and don't have a chronic condition which entitles me to a free one. Last year I remember that it cost €8 from the farmacia, but this time I paid €14.83. That seems a big increase, does anyone know why that should be?



€14.83 Is a small price to pay for peace of mind.Ask at your local farmacia perhaps they can tell you why there is an increase although mine is a freeby.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Lynn Are you the carer for your husband and is he entitled to a freebie one? If so, you are entitled to a freebie one as well as his carer. The suegra and I are both entitled to freebie so SWMBO gets one as well as our carer.


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## Love Karma (Oct 10, 2018)

A lady in our community gets hers free as she is classed as her poor older partners carer. In fact they had them done today thats how I can comment with up to date info.


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

tarot650 said:


> €14.83 Is a small price to pay for peace of mind.Ask at your local farmacia perhaps they can tell you why there is an increase although mine is a freeby.


No idea why there should be such an increase but yes - worth it.


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## Juan C (Sep 4, 2017)

At my medical centre I have a monthly check to establish the anticoagulant level.

Last week having done the test I was given flu and pneumonia jabs without making any request. 

I have been having the check up for several years but this is the first time I have been given a flu jab automatically. I am 79


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

baldilocks said:


> Lynn Are you the carer for your husband and is he entitled to a freebie one? If so, you are entitled to a freebie one as well as his carer. The suegra and I are both entitled to freebie so SWMBO gets one as well as our carer.


No, my husband is in perfect health and has no need of a carer. I've had far more health problems than him these last couple of years, so he's been the one doing the caring!


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

I wasn't complaining about having to pay or saying it was too expensive, by the way, just curious to know why the price should have nearly doubled from one year to the next.

I did find this article from 2018 where it says that the price of the single-use syringe of the vaccine can vary between €7.93 and €14.82 (doesn't explain why it varies). I bought mine from the same farmacia as last year, so it can't be a case of one charging more than another. Different manufacturers maybe, or as the vaccine has to be different each year because of different flu strains, maybe some years it is more expensive to produce.

https://www.ocu.org/salud/enfermedades/informe/vacuna-gripe

The article also says, however, that to buy the vaccine from a farmacia a prescription is needed. I certainly wasn't asked for one either this year or last.


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## Juan C (Sep 4, 2017)

I discovered some years ago in U.K. that medications I bought on a private prescription (previously they had been on a NHS prescription) were double the price in Boots compared to Lloyd’s pharmacy. 

So maybe one should shop around in spain too !


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Juan C said:


> I discovered some years ago in U.K. that medications I bought on a private prescription were double the price in Boots compared to Lloyd’s pharmacy. So maybe one should shop around !


Any medications I have bought on a private prescription in Spain (or without a prescription) have always been exactly the same price in whatever farmacia I have bought them from - and I've bought them in other cities around Spain as well as locally. And that includes different brand names for the same drug - there are two different brand names for the statin I take, and when I had to pay the full price with a private prescription either of them cost €28.50.

The price of all medications approved for use by the Sistema Nacional de Salud is set by the Government, anyway.

http://www.mscbs.gob.es/campannas/campanas10/medicamentosGenericosEFG/conoce-precio-medicamento.html


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## Juan C (Sep 4, 2017)

Well as often happens variations are experienced 

I have taken diclofenaco for many years. I have found that different brands have different prices at the same pharmacy. I believe diclofenaco is no longer available on prescription from my doctor. Maybe that explains or or maybe my experience is unique. 

I have never compared prices with other pharmacies.


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## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

Lynn R said:


> Any medications I have bought on a private prescription in Spain (or without a prescription) have always been exactly the same price in whatever farmacia I have bought them from - and I've bought them in other cities around Spain as well as locally. And that includes different brand names for the same drug - there are two different brand names for the statin I take, and when I had to pay the full price with a private prescription either of them cost €28.50.
> 
> The price of all medications approved for use by the Sistema Nacional de Salud is set by the Government, anyway.
> 
> Medicamentos genéricos. Mejoras tú. Mejoramos todos y todas. - Conoce el precio del medicamento


Out of curiosity, could I ask why you pay for your private prescriptions? I take four different tablets a day (one that costs €56 a month) prescribed by a private doctor but I take his prescription to my State doctor and he re-writes it as a public health prescription, which I don't have to pay anything for. It seems a bit cheeky, I know, but the State GP seems quite happy with the arrangement and my Spanish friends tell me that it is what everyone with private health insurance does.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

SWMBO (60 y.o.) got hers this morning, free because she qualifies as carer for both the m-i-l and me.


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

Lynn R said:


> I had my flu jab this morning. I have to pay for it as I'm under 65 and don't have a chronic condition which entitles me to a free one. Last year I remember that it cost €8 from the farmacia, but this time I paid €14.83. That seems a big increase, does anyone know why that should be?


Surprised you don't get it free TBH - I'm pretty sure you would in the UK.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

jimenato said:


> Surprised you don't get it free TBH - I'm pretty sure you would in the UK.


You only get it free if you're a pensioner or suffer from certain chronic conditions like diabetes. Lynn is just too young and healthy to qualify!


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

The Skipper said:


> Out of curiosity, could I ask why you pay for your private prescriptions? I take four different tablets a day (one that costs €56 a month) prescribed by a private doctor but I take his prescription to my State doctor and he re-writes it as a public health prescription, which I don't have to pay anything for. It seems a bit cheeky, I know, but the State GP seems quite happy with the arrangement and my Spanish friends tell me that it is what everyone with private health insurance does.


I don't, now, and haven't since we became entitled to Spanish state healthcare via S1s when my husband became a UK state pensioner. I do the same thing, my doctor in the state system just writes the prescription. I was referring earlier to the time when we could only use the private system.


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

jimenato said:


> Surprised you don't get it free TBH - I'm pretty sure you would in the UK.


Yes, don't think uk GPs refuse anyone. They are paid a fixed amount for each jab. Have heard the are paid for each person prescribed statins but not sure it is correct.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

I did once get one on the NHS in the UK, after I'd had a series of chest infections one after the other and asked my doctor if I could have one. I don't think they were offered in places like supermarkets or pharmacy chains at that time, it was years ago.

I've read the criteria for being eligible to have the flu jab in the public health system here and I don't fit any of them. I take a statin but I can't see any reason why that in itself would put someone in a higher risk category. I only take it to lower cholesterol levels, not because of high blood pressure. Maybe my doctor would agree if I asked him if I could have one, but really I don't see any reason to ask him to bend the rules for me.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Lynn R said:


> I did once get one on the NHS in the UK, after I'd had a series of chest infections one after the other and asked my doctor if I could have one. I don't think they were offered in places like supermarkets or pharmacy chains at that time, it was years ago.
> 
> I've read the criteria for being eligible to have the flu jab in the public health system here and I don't fit any of them. I take a statin but I can't see any reason why that in itself would put someone in a higher risk category. I only take it to lower cholesterol levels, not because of high blood pressure. Maybe my doctor would agree if I asked him if I could have one, but really I don't see any reason to ask him to bend the rules for me.


What are the criteria Lynn, do you have a link?


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Pesky Wesky said:


> What are the criteria Lynn, do you have a link?


See here:-

https://www.diariomedico.com/salud/...-vacunacion-de-la-gripe-entre-sanitarios.html


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> You only get it free if you're a pensioner or suffer from certain chronic conditions like diabetes. Lynn is just too young and healthy to qualify!


Glad to hear that. 

I understood (or rather misunderstood obviously) from a previous post that she had a qualifying condition.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

jimenato said:


> Glad to hear that.
> 
> I understood (or rather misunderstood obviously) from a previous post that she had a qualifying condition.


I don't consider myself to have cancer any longer since it has all been removed and I will not need any further treatment (although that has to be finally confirmed the week after next when I have my follow-up appointment after the histology study has been conducted).


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Lynn R said:


> See here:-
> 
> https://www.diariomedico.com/salud/...-vacunacion-de-la-gripe-entre-sanitarios.html


Thanks, I thought teachers might be on the list, but they're not


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## Juan C (Sep 4, 2017)

I cannot remember if it is still so, but in medical centres in spain there used to be notices instructing that one could not ask the GP to replace private prescriptions with state ones 

At one time I used to see my GP privately and then take the private prescription to him when he was in working in the medical centre. Tongue in cheek I would ask him 
,as my GP, if he could suggest a medication ‘similar to the one he had given me privately’ With bad grace he would write my a ‘national health’ one


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Juan C said:


> I cannot remember if it is still so, but in medical centres in spain there used to be notices instructing that one could not ask the GP to replace private prescriptions with state ones
> 
> At one time I used to see my GP privately and then take the private prescription to him when he was in working in the medical centre. Tongue in cheek I would ask him
> ,as my GP, if he could suggest a medication ‘similar to the one he had given me privately’ With bad grace he would write my a ‘national health’ one


Again, the policy varies depending where you live. There's no such notice in my consultorio and lots of people get their private prescriptions replaced without any problem.


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