Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
(): In 2019 the Government's
manifesto committed to continue to promote the uptake of vaccines
via a national vaccination strategy. I am pleased to announce
that on Wednesday 13th December, NHS England published
that strategy.
Vaccination saves lives and protects people’s health. It ranks
second only to clean water as the most effective public health
intervention to prevent disease. Through vaccination, diseases
that were previously common are now rare, and millions of people
each year are protected from severe illness and death.
Building on the success of our world-leading NHS COVID-19
vaccination programme, which has delivered over 150 million
vaccinations to date, and learning from many decades of
successful immunisation delivery, NHS England, in collaboration
with the Department of Health and Social Care, the UK Health
Security Agency and other partners, has developed a strategic
direction for the delivery of vaccination services, focussed on
improving uptake and coverage of all vaccinations across the
whole population whilst reducing disparities of uptake in
under-served communities. To do so the strategy aims to:
- simplify and streamline access to vaccinations, including
extending online booking capability;
- improve access for people who are currently underserved by
offering vaccination through community-based, targeted
approaches;
- deliver vaccination through flexible, integrated,
neighbourhood teams that can deliver other preventative
interventions alongside vaccination.
The strategy proposes that Integrated Care Boards have the
responsibility and flexibility to deliver these aims through
local vaccination delivery networks that are tailored to the
needs of local people. These local networks will be underpinned
by timely, accurate data flows and responsive vaccine supply
chains. Local systems will have a robust plan for managing
disease outbreaks and surge responses, collaboratively developed
with partners including local government, and setting out clear
roles and responsibilities.
In developing this strategy, NHS England has sought the views of
a wide range of stakeholders including service users via a public
survey, GPs, community pharmacy, NHS trusts and Directors of
Public Health. Stakeholder input has been invaluable in
developing an ambitious plan for the future of vaccination
delivery, as well as describing what should be retained, improved
and adapted from the current approach to ensure it meets
everyone’s needs.
The strategy supports NHS England’s ambition to eliminate
cervical cancer by 2040, with England among the first places in
the world to set this ambition within the next two decades, by
making it as easy as possible for people to get the lifesaving
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and increasing cervical
screening uptake.
