Asked by: Lord Bethell (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will make an assessment of the impact of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation's advice for the Spring and Autumn 2025 COVID-19 vaccination programme on the delivery of their core health shifts.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Vaccination plays an important role in the Government’s Plan for Change and the Health Mission, including in the shift from sickness to prevention. The Government continues to be guided by the independent Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on the approach to vaccination and immunisation.
The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of severe illness, namely hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19. On 13 November 2024, the JCVI published advice on the COVID-19 vaccination programme for spring 2025, autumn 2025 and spring 2026. This advice is available on the GOV.UK website, in an online-only format.
On 12 December 2024, the Government accepted the JCVI advice that a COVID-19 vaccine should be offered in spring 2025 to adults aged 75 years old and over, residents in a care home for older adults, and the immunosuppressed aged six months and over. Eligibility for the spring 2025 campaign is the same as in previous spring campaigns.
The JCVI also advised on eligibility for autumn 2025 and spring 2026 programmes. The Government is considering this advice carefully and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bethell (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how their vaccination policies are being aligned with broader public health outcomes, beyond immediate capacity savings in the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Vaccination plays an important role in the Government’s Plan for Change and Health Mission, including in the shift from sickness to prevention. The Department works closely with the UK Health Security Agency and NHS England, with expert advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, to design, implement, and deliver 17 programmes offering high levels of long-term protection. These include seasonal and routine programmes as set out in the national schedule.
Our vaccination and immunisation programmes therefore support multiple public health objectives, including contributing to efforts to eliminate or eradicate disease, prevent outbreaks of infectious disease, reduce the burden of ill-health, and to reduce health inequalities, for example by ensuring that targeted outreach can offer vaccinations to underserved populations.
Asked by: Lord Bethell (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve transparency in the decision-making processes of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation; and whether this includes publishing detailed evidence underlying its recommendations.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As per the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s (JCVI) code of practice, committee minutes are published within six weeks of the meeting, via its webpage. These minutes outline the information presented to members and summarise the considerations and discussion. The JCVI also publishes advice statements on the GOV.UK website, and these statements outline the advice given and the rationale.
Where possible, data considered by the committee is referenced in minutes and statements. On occasion, data reviewed by the committee may remain unpublished when the minutes are released. This could be due to the data being new, sensitive, or subject to confidentiality. For transparency and public interest, the JCVI encourages all researchers who present to the committee to publish data once appropriate.
Asked by: Lord Bethell (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to evolve the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation's methods to assess the broader socio-economic benefits of vaccination.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As an independent Departmental Expert Committee, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advises the Department on matters related to vaccination and immunisation. The JCVI bases its advice and recommendations on evidence of the burden of disease, of vaccine safety and efficacy, and of the impact and cost effectiveness of immunisation strategies.
Broader socio-economic factors, such as productivity costs from illness, improved educational attainment from reduced school absences, and out-of-pocket expenses and opportunity costs from attending a vaccination, are not included in the cost-effective analysis which is presented to the JCVI for its consideration. However, these impacts may be highlighted by the JCVI to inform policy-making.
Asked by: Lord Bethell (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the objectives of the MedTech Directorate of the Department of Health and Social Care; and when they intend to publish the (1) strategy, and (2) workplan, for achieving those objectives.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Directorate aims to ensure that the health and care system has a resilient supply chain for safe and high quality products, provides value for money, embeds sustainability, has access to and adoption of innovative products and a managed transition for medical technology issues following the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union and the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Directorate has engaged with industry on the Medtech strategy, which is due to be published shortly and is establishing a governing board to oversee the strategy’s implementation. Further information on the implementation of the strategy will be available early in the new year.