Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of how many additional flu vaccines will be provided in the lead up to the 2020 Winter period compared to the number of such vaccines administered in 2019.

The flu vaccination programme is a crucial part of preparing the United Kingdom for winter. The vaccine is already available to those most at risk of flu, children aged 2-3, all primary school aged children and all healthcare workers. In 2019/20 over 14.6 million doses of the flu vaccine were administered to these groups.

As part of our planning for this coming winter, we are seeking to increase uptake for all the cohorts who are currently eligible for flu vaccination and extend who is eligible. Information on the ambitions for flu vaccine uptake will be published in the second annual flu letter 2020/21.

General practitioners and community pharmacists are directly responsible for ordering flu vaccine from suppliers for the adult flu programme, and advice was issued to them about ordering sufficient doses of vaccine for their patient groups.