Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is his Department taking to reduce inequalities in uptake of the Respiratory Syncytial Virus maternal vaccination programme by (a) region, (b) ethnicity and (c) socioeconomic background.

The UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) monitoring of programme uptake by ethnicity and region is a key tool in identifying disparities in uptake across diverse populations. UKHSA has prepared respiratory syncytial virus antenatal vaccine information leaflets in over 30 languages, and in other formats, to support programme accessibility and reduce inequalities. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/respiratory-syncytial-virus-rsv-maternal-vaccination

An update to UKHSA’s Immunisation Equity Strategy is forthcoming and will support action to ensure that everyone can access vaccination at the right time, irrespective of where they live, their ethnicity and their socioeconomic background. The current Immunisation Inequalities Strategy can be found on the GOV.UK website, at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/phe-immunisation-inequalities-strategy