Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on medical practices of the recent revision of guidance for ordering flu vaccines.

NHS England wrote to general practitioners and community pharmacists on 5 February to advise on which vaccines should be ordered for the 2018-19 flu season. This was based on new advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, evidence from Public Health England and the availability of a new adjuvanted trivalent vaccine (aTiv) for the 2018/19 season.

Vaccine suppliers have provided assurance that they have supported the amendment of existing orders, many of which are provisional, without penalty. Suppliers of the recommended vaccines, aTIV and quadrivalent influenza vaccine, have extended ordering windows and maintained the prices and discounts available to practices. Providers will continue to be reimbursed for the vaccines they procure and use during the 2018-19 flu season in the usual way.

The recent advice was issued to ensure that eligible patients are given the most effective vaccines to protect them from flu and its complications in the 2018-19 flu season.