Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation

(asked on 12th April 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Deputy Chief Medical Officers have any formal role in relation to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation; and if so, what are the roles.


Answered by
Lord Bethell Portrait
Lord Bethell
This question was answered on 20th April 2021

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) secretariat is provided by Public Health England (PHE), as set out in the JCVI Code of Practice agreed by the Department. In 2013 the Secretariat was transferred to PHE from the Department as part of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. Membership is determined on merit and in accordance with the principles of the Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees and the Code of Practice issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Chair and members are appointed based on their suitability for the role through fair and open competition and assessed against specified criteria. The Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Jonathan Van Tam is a medical adviser to the JCVI but is not a member of the Committee.

The JCVI has no budget. Members are not remunerated. However, they are eligible to claim expenses in accordance with PHE’s rules for travel, subsistence and overnight accommodation. The JCVI’s members will not gain financial benefit from their membership. The JCVI cannot commission research but does identify gaps where additional research would be helpful in informing their decision making.

The JCVI’s members have a wide range of specialisms, including vaccinology, immunology, paediatrics, adult medicine, respiratory medicine, geriatric medicine, infectious diseases, epidemiology, virology, public health, mathematical modelling, health economics, general practice and health care associated infections. The United Kingdom health departments agreed to take advice from the JCVI on vaccinations and immunisations as the expert body. The JCVI does not have a haematologist member.

The JCVI’s COVID-19 sub-committee may, in the course of its work, invite experts in certain specialisms not represented in the membership to attend and contribute to meetings, including experts in haematology. The JCVI works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the Commission on Human Medicines, who have an expert working group that includes invited experts in haematology.

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