Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to increase the uptake of flu vaccinations for primary-aged school children in Lancashire.

A flu vaccination target of at least 65% has been set out in the annual flu letter for school age children in the 2018/19 flu season. The most recently published figures, as of 20 November 2018, show that Lancashire was on the way to achieving this and above the national average.

Public Health England (PHE) has worked in partnership with NHS England to promote the ‘Help Us Help You’ campaign to encourage flu vaccination in England. The flu vaccination campaign is targeted at children, pregnant women, and those with long term health conditions.

PHE undertakes proactive media activity to promote flu vaccination during the vaccination period. This season the media campaign was launched on 8 October 2018 and ran until 31 October and consisted of television, radio and social media advertising supported by public relations, digital search and partnership activity.