Patrick Swain, ILC’s Research and Development Manager responds to the Health and Social Care Committee report on vaccination

The International Longevity Centre UK (ILC) welcomes the Health and Social Care Committee’s report on vaccination. Across the life course, vaccination plays a fundamental role in preventing ill health and we believe vaccination is an integral part of the prevention agenda.

The UK is a world leader when it comes to vaccination. From timely data to strong coverage rates, the UK continues to ensure that people of all ages receive the vaccinations they need to remain healthy and active for longer.

COVID-19 has demonstrated this, with the UK having one of the fastest and most successful vaccine rollouts in the world. Since December 2020, over 150 million vaccinations against COVID-19 have been administered in the UK,[1] preventing 24 million infections and 127,500 hospitalisations.[2]

However, the UK has seen a decline in other vaccinations in recent years. Despite meeting the WHO’s 75% target, influenza (flu) vaccination in England:

• is down 2.4% (79.9% in 2022/23 compared to 82.3% in 2021/22) in over-65s.
• has fallen 3.8% (52.9% to 49.1%) in clinical risk groups.
• has dropped by 6.4% (48.7% to 42.3%) in two-year-olds.[3]

Vaccination coverage for MMR has also fallen among children aged 24 months. In England, coverage fell from 90.3% in 2020-21 to 89.2% in 2021-22: far below the 95% target[4] and exacerbating the risk of a public health emergency in cities like London.[5]

And according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), amongst adolescent populations, HPV vaccination has declined considerably: coverage in 2021-22 in England decreased by 7% in Year 8 girls and 8.7% in Year 8 boys in 2021/22 when compared to the previous academic year.^[6]

These declines in vaccination across the life course must be addressed to increase everyone’s chance of living a longer and healthier life. We know that vaccination can prevent ill health, so more needs to be done to improve coverage and people’s health outcomes.

Our Global Healthy Ageing and Prevention Index aims to hold governments to account by tracking progress on prevention and healthy ageing. The Index ranks 121 countries against six indicators: life span, health span, work span, income, environmental performance, and happiness. This allows us to compare how sustainable different countries are, both in terms of longer lives and the extent to which their governments are investing in efforts to prevent ill health and support healthy ageing. When it comes to immunisation, countries who spend more on vaccination perform better on the Index.

While the UK ranks 16th globally overall, it ranks 28th for “health span” – the number of years an individual can expect to spend in good health. Declining vaccination rates will only further compound this figure if growing numbers of the population remain unvaccinated and exposed to vaccine-preventable diseases.

Increasing access to vaccination, raising more awareness, and addressing the barriers to uptake are just some of the steps needed to improve immunisation rates across the life course in the UK. The COVID-19 pandemic reminds us of the power of using vaccination to prevent ill health, and more action must be taken now to ensure that we avert other diseases from having a negative impact on people’s longevity.

[1] https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/vaccinations

[2] As of 24 September 2021, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1052353/Vaccine_surveillance_report_-_week_5.pdf#page=55

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/seasonal-influenza-vaccine-uptake-in-gp-patients-monthly-data-2022-to-2023

[4] https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-immunisation-statistics/2021-22

[5] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66200444

[6] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/concern-over-drop-in-hpv-vaccine-coverage-among-secondary-school-pupils

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