Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2025 to Question 27349 on Vaccination, what steps his Department is taking to ensure contemporaneous vaccine delivery across all regions.

NHS England is responsible for the operational delivery of the vaccination programmes, including the respiratory syncytial virus programme, in line with recommendations from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), and considering local population needs.

General practices (GPs) are commissioned as a component of essential services, with practices required to offer and provide vaccinations to eligible patients, including their registered patients residing in care homes. NHS England’s regional teams monitor operational data to ensure that all providers are vaccinating those eligible.

Routine and seasonal vaccination programmes are commissioned in a nationally consistent way across all regions through inclusion in the GP Contract, GP and community pharmacy advanced and enhanced services, and National Health Service standard contracts. Regional commissioners are also able to stand up vaccination programmes in response to local pressures and outbreaks to supplement this core offer.