Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to monitor inequalities in HPV vaccination uptake.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) monitor HPV vaccine coverage and publish annual data which is available at the following link:
In order to track inequalities these data are available by gender at the local authority, NHS and UKSHA Regional levels. School-based HPV immunisation delivery has successfully achieved high coverage in England and reduced inequalities at area level since the start of the programme in 2008.
In addition, the UKHSA also conducts undertakes research to understand how knowledge, beliefs and attitudes towards immunisation, vaccine safety and disease severity, influence vaccine uptake decision-making, including for the HPV vaccine. This includes working with partners in the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) for Vaccines exploring issues within specific minority communities and monitoring inequalities.