Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that the influenza vaccine for winter 2020-21 is administered in a covid-19 safe environment.

The flu vaccination programme will be a critical part of preparing the United Kingdom for winter and as part of our planning should we see co-circulation of flu and COVID-19 and we are working with National Health Service and Public Health England colleagues on the delivery of the 2020/21 seasonal flu vaccination programme. Operational plans for flu include consideration of the social distancing requirements for vulnerable people, the workforce and providers. Standard operating procedures for healthcare services and guidance on immunisation during COVID-19 have been issued to providers. On 14 May we published the Annual Flu letter 2020/21, available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/885281/The_national_flu_immunisation_programme_2020_to_2021.pdf

We will be publishing a further letter providing more detailed information on the flu programme ahead of the flu season.