Did vaccinations strategy help NHS prepare for winter? Health Committee investigates
The Health and Social Care Committee will examine the effectiveness of the Government's vaccinations strategy, and to what extent the rollout of flu jabs last year helped reduce demand on hospitals.
Meeting details
A first panel of witnesses will be questioned on how jabs are delivered locally. The cross-party Committee will consider hurdles such as hesitancy among the population, communication with the public, tackling misinformation and how easy or difficult it was for people to get appointments.
A second panel of witnesses from NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care and the UK Health Security Agency will be questioned on last year’s winter flu and covid vaccine programmes might have achieved in preventing serious illness.
MPs will also look more broadly at the provision of vaccinations across age groups, and their role in the NHS’s shift to preventative care. They will question the possible impact of NHS England’s decision that immunisation commissioning will transfer to Integrated Care Boards from April 2026. It comes as ICBs also face having to merge and find significant cost savings across the country.
Over the past decade, uptake of most vaccination programmes in England has fallen. In 2023/24 the UK childhood vaccination coverage rates by age five were below the World Health Organisation’s 95% target for all vaccines. Out of the four UK nations, immunisation rates are lowest in England.
In its recently published report, The First 1,000 Days, the Committee recommended that the Government should reinstate the target for 95% of children across England to receive all of their scheduled vaccinations. Last year one child died of Measles and 13 were killed by whooping cough.
The report also recommended that reviving the workforce of health visitors and opening more Family Hubs could help more families receive vaccinations.