Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the readiness of NHS services in (a) Fylde and (b) Lancashire to deliver the chickenpox vaccine from January 2026.

On 29 August, the Government announced plans to introduce chickenpox vaccination into the routine childhood immunisation schedule from 1 January 2026, using the MMRV vaccine which protects against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox (varicella).

The MMRV vaccine will be offered at GP practices as part of routine infant vaccination appointments.

Any vaccination programme change carefully considers factors including National Health Service delivery and impact on other vaccination programmes.

The Department, NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency work closely together to inform and educate the public and health professionals and ensure system readiness to maintain the high standards of the UK’s world-leading vaccination programmes, including in Fylde and Lancashire.