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 increase the speed of the delivery of the school vaccination programme.

The National Health Service is supporting catch-up efforts to return the coverage of school aged vaccination programmes back to their pre-pandemic levels. School aged immunisation service providers are commissioned to deliver a 100% offer for adolescent vaccine programmes, including for children not in mainstream education.

Catch-up initiatives are also in place via schools and community clinic settings, and those who miss out on the adolescent immunisation sessions remain eligible in older years. General practices are also commissioned by NHS England to deliver catch ups for school aged children and young people on an opportunistic basis, to maximise vaccine uptake.

NHS England continues to work with all key stakeholders at a regional level to strengthen local initiatives and encourage innovative models to approach the robust delivery of school aged vaccinations.