Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce and prevent incidences of pneumococcal pneumonia.

A national pneumococcal vaccination programme is in place to protect individuals for whom pneumococcal infection is likely to be more common and/or serious. Vaccination is provided to children as part of the routine childhood immunisation programme; those aged 65 years or over; and those aged between 2 and 64 years of age who are at increased risk of invasive pneumococcal disease.

There is an increased risk of getting pneumococcal pneumonia following influenza infection. Therefore people aged 65 years and older and those under 65 years of age in clinical risk groups are offered influenza vaccination each year to lower their risk of flu and also pneumococcal disease.

There has been a significant reduction in pneumococcal pneumonia in the United Kingdom, in all ages, this has mainly been the result of the impact of the UK childhood pneumococcal conjugate vaccination programme.