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Written question asked by Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour) on Monday, 29 July 2024, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Monday, 12 August 2024. It was answered by Baroness Merron (Labour) on Monday, 5 August 2024 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Influenza and Whooping Cough: Vaccination

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what are the national coverages rates of (1) influenza, and (2) pertussis, vaccination among pregnant women, and what steps they are taking to improve coverage rates for all maternal immunisations, ahead of delivering a new vaccination programme for the respiratory syncytial virus.

Answer

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) routinely monitors and reviews the vaccination coverage of all the routine immunisation programmes in England. Flu vaccine uptake for pregnant women for the 2023/24 flu season was 31.2%. Pertussis vaccine uptake for pregnant women for 2024, from January to April, was 59.1%.

To improve coverage rates for all maternal immunisations, the UKHSA provides public facing information, including information leaflets in multiple languages and accessible formats. The UKHSA also provides training slides and information resources for healthcare professionals.

Ahead of delivering a new vaccination programme for the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the UKHSA hosted two RSV webinars for healthcare professionals: the older person RSV vaccine programme; and the maternal RSV programme. Resources are also available for the RSV programme on the Health Publications Website.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL444
Session
2024-26
Subjects
Influenza Whooping cough Pregnancy Vaccination Respiratory syncytial virus
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk