Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how they will assess (1) wider productivity, and (2) economic benefits, when considering new immunisation programmes for infant respiratory syncytial virus.

The independent Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advises the Department on the approach to vaccination and immunisation. The JCVI evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) programme was based on the health benefits of an infant RSV programme and the potential healthcare cost savings from preventing cases and hospitalisations.

The Department did not ask the JCVI to complete an assessment of wider productivity and economic benefits of an immunisation programme, and the Department did not assess this separately for RSV.