Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the cost of each quality-adjusted life year added to 5 to 11 year old children as a result of offering that cohort a covid-19 vaccination.
On 22 December 2021, the Government accepted the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to offer COVID-19 vaccinations to children aged five to 11 years old who are in a clinical risk group, or who are household contacts of the immunosuppressed. On 16 February 2022, the Government subsequently accepted the JCVI’s advice to offer vaccination of children aged five to 11 years old not in a clinical risk group. However, the size and characteristics of a potential future wave were uncertain at the time of the JCVI’s advice, therefore it was not possible to determine the cost per quality adjusted life years gained.