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 21 June 2022 to Question 17162 on Coronavirus: Vaccination for children, for what reason the covid-19 vaccination for five- to 11-year-olds was included in the NHS.UK vaccination schedule information for the purposes of raising awareness with the public; who made that policy decision; what the set criteria are for including vaccines on the NHS routine children's immunisations schedule; and whether the threshold for long-term benefit in otherwise healthy children has been met for the Pfizer covid-19 vaccine.

While the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s one-off advice for a non-urgent offer of the Pfizer vaccine in this age group was publicised on NHS.UK to raise awareness, it does not reflect a change in policy.

COVID-19 vaccination is not included in the UK Health Security Agency’s routine childhood immunisation schedule, which provides immunisation information for health professionals and immunisation practitioners.