Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the (a) level of public support for a change to the schedule of pneumococcal vaccination programme and (b) potential effect on public confidence in vaccination of an increase in disease prevalence following a change in that schedule.

The Government bases its vaccination programmes on the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), an independent expert group.

As an independent committee, the JCVI is well placed to ensure the latest and most appropriate evidence has been considered on potential changes to scheduling within the vaccine programme, including identifying who to target to obtain the evidence it needs to inform its advice. The JCVI bases its advice on review of a wide range of scientific and other evidence including from the published literature, commissioned studies such as independent analyses of vaccine effectiveness and cost effectiveness, and submissions from vaccine manufacturers. Its advice takes into account the public health arguments related to any potential change to the vaccination schedule, such as the potential impact on cases of infectious disease. Any decisions about any changes to vaccination schedules take account of a wide range of factors.

Public confidence in vaccination is monitored by Public Health England, which commissions an annual survey of parental attitudes to childhood immunisation. The survey includes around 2,000 parents each year and the results are used to inform the planning of the childhood immunisation programme.