It was over in seconds and, as always, I didn’t feel a thing. "That’s you for another year", the pharmacist said, discarding the needle. It felt like £21.95 well spent.

Having been deemed eligible last autumn for the free flu and Covid jabs, even though I’m lucky not yet to be 65, this year I was flying solo. I don’t mind the small cost of a private flu vaccination, but if I also want a Covid booster, that’ll be around £100. Way too much, don’t you think?

More than a few disgruntled older folk would surely agree. Starting back in September, on the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), all over-65s and younger people with compromised immune systems, are being offered a free flu vaccination.

Covid boosters, however, are restricted to over 75s, plus those who are immunosuppressed or live in care homes for older adults. Following this change of policy, Katherine Crawford, the head of Age Concern Scotland, has called the 2025 vaccination programme "puzzling". She says more older people should automatically be offered a free Covid booster along with their flu jab.

When my husband received his invitation to join the village outing to the evocatively named Volunteer Hall in Galashiels – where once military reservists drilled in preparation for combat, now people bravely submit to a little pin prick -........

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