Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of adequacy of the uptake of the influenza vaccine in winter 2022-23.

In England from October to March monthly flu vaccine uptake data for general practitioner patients, school-aged children and frontline healthcare workers, are produced by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and include the numbers vaccinated. The data is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake#seasonal-flu-vaccine-uptake:-figures

All monthly data is provisional until the end of season report is published. Vaccination can take place any time between 1 September 2022 and 31 March 2023. Annual reports for each flu season are published after the end of the season, with last year’s report published in June 2022.

Provisional monthly data for 2022 to 2023 shows that some of the momentum from the previous two years, where the highest flu vaccine uptake rates ever were achieved, was maintained initially but then tailed off. For those aged 65 years old and over, the World Health Organization target of 75% uptake has again been exceeded. For other cohorts, including pregnant women, healthcare workers, and two- and three-year-olds, uptake has been lower than the last two years.