Influenza: Vaccination

(asked on 22nd January 2019) - View Source

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 merits of funding the free influenza vaccine for social care staff.


Answered by
Steve Brine Portrait
Steve Brine
This question was answered on 28th January 2019

Flu vaccination of social care workers is recommended to protect staff, protect vulnerable users and to contribute to resilience of the health and social care system in the winter, including prevention of outbreaks in care homes.

In October 2017, NHS England announced additional funding to support vaccination of frontline social care staff working in residential and care homes and in the community and offering direct care to vulnerable people. The 2017/18 NHS seasonal flu programme offered by general practices and community pharmacy was extended to include frontline social care staff. This was continued in 2018/19 and extended to frontline health and care staff working in the voluntary managed hospice sector. This scheme is intended to complement, not replace, any established occupational health schemes that employers have in place to offer the flu vaccination to their workforce.

Reticulating Splines