Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether NHS England is responsible for implementation of (a) the option in the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation guidance, Immunisation against infectious disease, that allows clinicians to use their clinical judgement where patient circumstances strongly suggest that prophylaxis with palivizumab would prevent serious respiratory syncytial virus infection in infants who are at a particular risk of complications and (b) other options in that guidance.

NHS England has responsibility under the Section 7A Agreement to commission specific NHS Public Health programmes on behalf of Secretary of State. This responsibility includes implementation of the service specification for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) which includes both options described in the question.

RSV is a common cause of respiratory tract infections. It usually causes a mild self-limiting respiratory infection in adults and children, but it can be severe in infants who are at increased risk of acute lower respiratory tract infection.

There is no licensed vaccine available for RSV. Preventative treatment for RSV is available by passive immunisation with protective antibodies to protect at risk infants.