Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the guidance entitled Vaccination against shingles guide from September 2023, updated on 22 August 2023, whether his Department made an assessment of the potential merits of providing all people aged between 65 and 69 a free vaccination for shingles.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advised Government on the rollout of the cohort expansion for the Shingles programme. Their advice was that the expansion should be done in stages, beginning with those aged 65 and 70 years old, and was based on various considerations, including population impact. The Government has accepted this advice, and it forms the basis of NHS England guidance on the programme.