Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) hospitalisations and (b) deaths that have been prevented by RSV vaccines administered through the early adopter community pharmacy sites.

People are eligible for the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination if they are pregnant, from 28 weeks onwards, or if they are aged 75 to 79 years old.

Some people aged 75 to 79 years old have been able to receive the RSV vaccine from a small number of community pharmacy pilot sites in the East of England. Approximately 8,000 individuals received their RSV vaccine in these community pharmacies between October and November 2024. The majority of the programme was delivered in general practice.

Overall, the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) findings indicate that there were 30% fewer hospital admissions in 75 to 79 year olds, who are eligible for the vaccine under the new programme, than there would have been without vaccination. This was seen after approximately 40% of eligible older people took up the vaccine this winter, and the impact is expected to increase with further vaccine uptake.

A UKHSA-led evaluation of the expansion of the community pharmacy RSV vaccination pilot is underway, covering a further 200 sites.