Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to conduct a public consultation on changing the pneumococcal vaccination programme, following advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to move to a "1 + 1" schedule for pneumococcal vaccine use in children.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) provides independent expert advice on the United Kingdom immunisation programme. It bases its recommendations on a comprehensive review of a wide range of scientific and other evidence, including from the published literature, and commissioned studies such as independent analyses of vaccine effectiveness and cost effectiveness. It can consult with stakeholders on its advice when it deems this necessary.

At its meeting in October 2017, the JCVI advised a change to the UK’s childhood pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) schedule. It recommended that infants should receive a single dose in infancy followed by a booster at one year of age (a “1+1” schedule). This advice was based on high vaccine uptake and effectiveness of the current PCV programme in the UK which has reduced vaccine-preventable pneumococcal disease.

The JCVI conducted a short focused consultation in January on its proposed advice about the PCV schedule. This concluded on 2 February. It is understood that some stakeholders have requested an extension to this consultation. The JCVI considered this request at its meeting on 7 February and their decision on this will be made public shortly. It is the JCVI rather than the Government that is best placed to carry out consultation about scheduling within the vaccine programme and who to target the consultation at.