Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what responsibility NHS England has to fund the pneumococcal vaccination of patients who have undergone a stem-cell transplant under the pneumococcal immunisation service specification in the NHS public health functions agreement 2017-18.

NHS England’s Directed Enhanced Service Specification for the seasonal influenza and pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination programme 2017/18 states that patients who are defined as at-risk in the Green Book, ‘Immunisation Against Infectious Disease’ are eligible for the pneumococcal immunisation programme. The Green Book definition of ‘at-risk’ includes patients who are immunosuppressed.

NHS England is responsible for the delivery of vaccinations to patients undergoing stem cell transplant, as they would be classed as immunosuppressed, as part of the Public Health functions agreement section 7a. The funding is via NHS England’s Directed Enhanced Services.