Hansard

The member may be aware that the advice that Governments receive on the use of vaccination programmes comes from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. It is an issue to which the committee has given some consideration. Given some of the emerging data and information on the matter, the JCVI has set up a specialist sub-group to explore the issue further. Once that sub-group has reported to the committee and its report has been submitted to Government, we will be in a position to make an informed decision on the matter. At this point, we should allow that expert group to consider the existing body of evidence and then to evaluate how to take the matter forward effectively if the recommendation is that there should be changes to the HPV vaccination programme.

I do not have a timeframe that I can give the member, but I assure him that the process for carrying out the evaluation to which he refers is already in place.

It is not only in childhood that we have seen the value of immunisation. Since 2001, the seasonal influenza vaccination programme has offered protection to over-65s and those in at-risk groups. Consistently strong uptake rates since the introduction of the programme have meant that the number of deaths attributable to flu has almost halved; 2,000 fewer annual hospitalisations are caused by flu; and the number of consultations with general practitioners has fallen by a quarter.

Building on the success of the seasonal influenza programme, we have embarked on one of the most ambitious extensions to the immunisation programme. We know that children are vulnerable to the flu so, by extending the influenza programme to all children between the ages of two and 17, we will be able to offer important protection to those who are vaccinated. That is a significant undertaking, and the programme will be phased in over a number of years.

As well as protecting the children who are immunised, the benefits of the programme will extend into the population more generally, with yet further reductions in the number of deaths caused by influenza each year and in the number of hospitalisations and GP consultations that take place.

Last year, there was unprecedented expansion of the immunisation programme—there have been three new programmes over the past year alone. We have successfully implemented a vaccination programme against rotavirus, a disease that causes around 1,200 babies to be hospitalised each year. That comes alongside the introduction of the shingles vaccine and the childhood flu vaccination programme. Those programmes have been introduced in a way that allows the public to be assured about the ability to deliver major immunisation programmes in Scotland.

On the shingles vaccination programme, around 7,000 cases of shingles are recorded each year among people who are 70 years old. Since September 2013, people aged 70 have been offered vaccination against shingles, protecting them against what can be a long-term condition resulting in pain and discomfort.

The benefits of the immunisation programme that I have outlined are a reflection of the professionalism and expertise within the national health service in Scotland. None of it could have happened without the contribution of general practices, school nurses, NHS boards, Health Protection Scotland and other public agencies throughout the country, working together to ensure that Scotland’s vaccination programme functions successfully.

I move,

That the Parliament acknowledges the clear benefits and central importance of immunisation programmes to Scotland’s public health; commends Scotland’s high uptake rates for the adult and childhood programmes and, in particular, the average uptake rates of around 97% annually for routine childhood vaccinations, and supports the Scottish Government, Health Protection Scotland and other national agencies, NHS boards and GP practices in their commitment to these programmes.