Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment the Government has made of why uptake rates in groups eligible for free flu vaccination remain low.
England has one of the highest flu vaccine uptake rates in Europe. Most years, for those aged 65 and above, uptake is close to the World Health Organization (WHO) target of 75%. There is normally only a short window in which to vaccinate between the vaccine becoming available and the flu season commencing. This year, the phased delivery of the adjuvanted vaccine for older people meant that some flu clinics had to be delayed until sufficient vaccine was available.
The majority of flu vaccination has now taken place. Vaccine uptake is at similar levels to previous years for older people and pregnant women. For those in clinical risk groups it is marginally lower. There are many reasons for this including that many patients do not appreciate how serious flu can be and the importance of protecting themselves, with some women wary of having a vaccine whilst pregnant. For two and three year olds it is at the highest level since the programme started. This data can be viewed at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/weekly-national-flu-reports-2018-to-2019-season