Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of ensuring that adults aged over 60 with pre-existing conditions are included in the respiratory syncytial virus vaccination programme.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) keeps all vaccine programmes under review and will continue to update its advice as new evidence emerges. In October 2024, the JCVI agreed that it would need to formally review, in detail, the evidence for a potential extension to the programme for the very elderly and risk groups in those aged less than 75 years old. This review would be undertaken by the JCVI respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) sub-committee.

The Department will consider any future JCVI advice on who should be offered an RSV immunisation. Once published, minutes of JCVI meetings are available on the GOV.UK website, at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/joint-committee-on-vaccination-and-immunisation#sub-committee-membership-and-minutes