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 the number of school children who have had HPV vaccinations delayed as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

School-aged vaccinations, including human papillomavirus (HPV), were impacted by the closure of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. School-aged immunisation providers across the country are now working with NHS England and NHS Improvement commissioners with clinical advice from Public Health England to catch up those vaccinations that were previously paused.

Whilst we do not have an estimate of the number of school children whose HPV vaccination has been delayed due the COVID-19 outbreak, the priority now is to ensure that all those eligible are offered at least one dose of HPV vaccine, as per the advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.