Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how they plan to assess the wider productivity and economic benefits of any new immunisation programmes for infant respiratory syncytial virus.

The independent Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advises the Department on the approach to vaccination and immunisation. The JCVI’s evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) programme was based on the health benefits of an infant RSV programme, and the potential healthcare cost savings from preventing cases and hospitalisations.

The Department did not ask the JCVI to complete an assessment of the wider productivity and economic benefits when determining the cost-effectiveness of a vaccination programme, and the Department did not assess this separately for RSV.