Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of not offering free flu vaccinations to 50 to 64-year-olds on (a) public health, (b) the economy (c) the NHS and (d) social care capacity.

The Department is guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on the approach to the seasonal flu vaccination programme in England. Details about the flu vaccination programme for 2023/24, including which groups will be eligible for a free vaccine and the vaccines that will be reimbursable to National Health Service providers, were published on 25 May 2023. The groups eligible for a free flu vaccine for the 2023 to 2024 season include those aged 65 years old and over and those aged six months old to under 65 years old in clinical risk groups.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, eligibility for the influenza programme was temporarily extended to include all adults aged between 50 and 64 years old to protect the population from the potential threat of cocirculation of COVID-19 and influenza, and to alleviate pressure on the NHS. In the JCVI’s advice for the 2023/24 programme published in November 2022, it stated that whilst there would be a health benefit in vaccinating low-risk 50- to 64-year-olds, it is uncertain whether this would be cost effective, and that the overall priority should be to extend the childhood programme in secondary schools as this would be more cost effective and likely to have a greater impact on morbidity and mortality compared with vaccinating 50- to 64-year-olds.

Whilst there was no quantitative assessment made of additional indirect benefits to public health, the economy and NHS and social care capacity of not offering flu vaccinations to 50- to 64-year-olds this year, we did take into consideration qualitative evidence, including the benefits of seasonal flu vaccination on reducing winter pressures, when making our overall assessment. The Department will continue to be guided by JCVI advice on cost effectiveness.