Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that children are vaccinated against flu croup.

Croup can be caused by a range of respiratory viruses; the flu vaccine can help protect against croup which develops as a consequence of the influenza virus. The flu vaccine can only reduce croup caused by influenza.

The National Health Service annual influenza vaccination programme delivers vaccine to healthy children. For 2017, those aged two to three years of age, those in reception class, and school years one to four are all eligible. To encourage and improve uptake, the flu vaccine for those in reception class and school years one to four are delivered in the school setting. The programmes aims to help protect young children and to reduce the wider spread of flu in households and communities.