Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the evidential basis is for not extending the respiratory syncytial virus immunisation programme to all children under the age of one year.

There are currently no approved respiratory syncytial virus vaccines for children under the age of one year. This is a dynamic area and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, supported by The UK Health Security Agency, is continuing to keep the evidence and its advice under review.

However, it is important to be aware that the maternal vaccine is now available to pregnant women via the National Health Service, precisely to provide protection to children in the first year of life. We would strongly encourage everyone that is eligible to take up this offer as the most effective way to protect your child.