Vaccination
(asked on 11th November 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what criteria his Department uses to measure the success of (a) vaccination and (b) immunisation programmes; and what assessment he has made of the (i) maternity, (ii) neonatal and (iii) adult rsv programmes against this criteria.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) published quality criteria for an effective immunisation programme in June 2025 which includes accessibility of clinics, communication, training, and storage. A copy of the quality criteria is attached. These criteria are for National Health Service organisations and local health systems to use. In addition, the NICE guideline NG218 also covers the vaccine uptake recommendation and audit processes, and is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng218/chapter/Recommendations
For respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine uptake, key performance indicators are included in the NHS public health functions agreement published by the Department on 4 June 2025, and available at the following link:
The maternal and older adult RSV programmes were introduced on 1 September 2024. Pregnant women are eligible from 28 weeks, as are older adults who are turning 75 years old, and a catch-up is available for those who were aged 75 to 79 years old at programme launch. The UKHSA monitors vaccine coverage in the maternal programme for infant protection as well as the older adults programme, with further information on both available, respectively, at the following two links:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rsv-maternal-vaccination-coverage-in-england
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rsv-older-adults-vaccination-coverage-in-england
In the most recent monthly reports, 53.7% of June births were protected by antenatal vaccination, and 65.7% of older adults in catch-up cohorts had been vaccinated, an increase of 0.9% from the previous month.
The RSV selective immunisation programme for high risk and very preterm infants, using long-acting monoclonal antibodies, began in September 2025 and no coverage assessment has been made.