Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the merits of extending eligibility for the respiratory syncytial virus vaccine to include people over 80 years old, clinical risk groups and immunocompromised people.

During the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s (JCVI) meeting of the 5 February 2025, the Department confirmed that any extension to those aged 80 years old and over would require an analysis of both impact and cost effectiveness. JCVI stated that more on how long the vaccine protects people is needed, specifically, to determine cost effectiveness.

For those under 75 years old, the committee stated that it is important to better understand how often people in higher-risk groups become ill. They noted that more information is required on hospital admissions in these groups, and that the UK Health Security Agency plans to carry out further work on this, for the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) sub-committee to review.

The JCVI met again on 4 June 2025, and RSV was discussed. Meeting minutes are usually published within six weeks on the GOV.UK website, and are only available online. The JCVI regularly reviews all vaccine programmes and will keep updating its advice as new evidence becomes available. The Department will review any future advice from the JCVI about who should be offered an RSV vaccine.