Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of delays to HPV vaccinations arising from the COVID-19 pandemic; and when they expect to have rectified any such delays.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all educational settings were closed from 23 March 2020, pausing the delivery of the 2019/20 school immunisation programmes.

In June 2020, NHS England and NHS Improvement commissioned school-aged immunisation providers were able to implement their restoration and recovery plans to commence partially delivered or incomplete programmes during the summer period. This included the delivery of programmes in school and community settings following a robust risk assessment in line with United Kingdom COVID-19 guidance. As such, by the end of July 2020, 91% of all NHS England and NHS Improvement commissioned providers were delivering school aged immunisation programmes, ensuring those eligible for the human papillomavirus vaccine had been offered at least one dose of the vaccine. The school-aged immunisation providers have continued to operationalise their restoration and recovery plans, with delivery that continued throughout August and September 2020 in line with the Government’s guidelines.