Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to commission more adult vaccines from community pharmacy.

We are committed to increase vaccine uptake and improving access, including by exploring new and innovative delivery models to deliver vaccinations, as outlined in the 10-Year Health Plan for England.

Community pharmacies already play a key role in delivering seasonal flu and COVID-19 vaccinations to adults, and we are exploring options to expand this offer to other vaccination programmes

For example, in 2024, NHS England commissioned selected community pharmacies in the East of England to help deliver year-round respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination programmes for pregnant women, to protect newborns, and adults aged between 75 and 79 years old. This is being expanded to support the maternal pertussis vaccination programme, and selected pharmacies in other regions have now also been commissioned to deliver these vaccines.

Looking ahead, the 10-Year Health Plan sets out the Government’s ambition to expand the role of community pharmacy in prevention, including through the delivery of more National Health Service vaccination services. We will increase uptake of human papillomavirus vaccinations among younger adults who have left school including by making it available in pharmacies, supporting our aim to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040.