Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to accelerate the (a) adoption and (b) uptake of vaccines approved by the Medicines Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.

The vaccines approved for adoption in the United Kingdom have met strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness set out by the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation regularly reviews MHRA approved vaccines and makes recommendations to the Department. These recommendations are considered thoroughly before putting in place new vaccines. Any vaccine that is approved must go through the same clinical trials and safety checks as other licensed medicines.

A range of actions have been implemented to improve vaccination uptake for children of all ages in England. This includes initiatives to improve access to the immunisation programme; communication with the public; data to better identify underserved individuals and populations; and training for healthcare professionals.