Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what criteria his Department will use to determine whether the temporary expansion of eligibility for flu vaccination to people aged over 50 should be made permanent.

Advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) noted that it was advisable to continue the vaccination of the 50–64-year-old cohort because from the age of 50 years old, individuals are at a greater risk of being hospitalised as a result of COVID-19 and the result of coinfection of COVID-19 and flu is likely to be more severe. However, no decision has been made on whether the eligibility of this cohort will be made permanent.

The Department will continue to consider the advice of the JCVI in decisions on which flu cohorts are recommended for a flu vaccine in the future. The JCVI use the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s methodology and criteria to assess whether a vaccine programme can be considered cost effective or not.