Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to tackle antimicrobial resistance using vaccines.

One of the nine ambitions for change set out in ‘Contained and controlled: The UK’s 20-year vision for antimicrobial resistance’, published on 24 January 2019, is to minimise infections in humans and animals. Optimising the use of effective vaccines will be critical in achieving this ambition.

The United Kingdom’s five-year national action plan for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) includes commitments to stimulate more research into vaccines and promote broader access to vaccines for humans and animals.

A new Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) Healthcare Associated Infections Working Group, set up to review and provide preliminary advice to JCVI on the potential use of appropriate vaccines in the UK, will provide advice on the development of better tools to estimate and quantify the potential impact of vaccines in reducing the long-term burden of AMR.

In addition, the UK supports the delivery and uptake of vaccines overseas through UK Aid programmes, including the Global AMR Innovation Fund, the Fleming Fund and the UK Vaccine Network.