Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to advice published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the effect of varicella vaccination on shingles, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policy on mandatory varicella vaccination of the findings of that report.

In 2010, the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations (JCVI) considered the addition of varicella (chickenpox) vaccine in the childhood vaccination programme. After carefully considering all the available evidence, JCVI concluded that offering a universal varicella (chickenpox) vaccination programme would not be cost effective as it could lead to an increase in shingles (herpes zoster) in adults.

JCVI keeps all its recommendations under review and is currently in the process of reviewing the latest scientific evidence to establish whether a routine childhood varicella vaccination programme would be effective and of benefit in England; this includes evidence from other countries that have introduced a vaccination programme. JCVI will make its recommendations, once it has considered all the necessary evidence.