Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to implement the targeted roll-out of the Gonorrhoea vaccine.

In November 2023, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) issued advice on standing up a targeted, routine vaccination programme for protection against gonorrhoea.

Officials across the Department, the UK Health Security Agency and NHS England have been developing options based on the JCVI advice, assessing all the relevant factors to ensure that the United Kingdom’s high standards for world-leading vaccination programmes are maintained, and the best value for money for taxpayers is delivered. A decision on a vaccination programme for the prevention of gonorrhoea is expected shortly, following the outcome of this process.

NHS England will work with partners across national, regional, and local levels to ensure that plans for any new vaccination programme will meet local need, ensure equity of access and support a high level of uptake of the vaccination offer by those who are eligible.