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 availability of the winter flu vaccine in (a) The Wrekin constituency, (b) Telford and Wrekin and (c) Shropshire.

No specific assessment has been made. General practitioners and community pharmacists are responsible for ordering flu vaccines from suppliers to deliver the national flu vaccination programme to adults. Vaccination providers determine the number of vaccines to purchase each year, based on their local populations, and eligible cohorts.

However, the Department works with flu vaccine manufacturers to ensure there are sufficient doses available. We have also secured a central stock of vaccines to meet additional demand which providers can access once they have utilised their own locally procured stock.