Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the impact on (a) uptake of vaccinations among eligible cohorts and (b) number of childhood influenza cases over the 2021-22 flu season in the context of the vaccine delivery completion deadline for the Childhood Influenza Vaccination Programme for 2021-22 moving from 15 December 2021 to the end of January 2022.

Overall low levels of influenza activity were seen in 2021 to 2022, with late season activity peaking in week 12 and week 14 of 2022, weeks beginning 20 March and 3 April, when hospital and critical care admissions peaked but at lower levels than seen in previous seasons. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) weekly surveillance reports is available at the following link:

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports-2021-to-2022-season

The UKHSA monthly influenza vaccine uptake data shows that the majority of children were vaccinated by end of December 2021 available at the following link:

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/seasonal-flu-vaccine-uptake-in-children-of-school-age-monthly-data-2021-to-2022