HC Deb 24 April 2002 vol 384 cc362-3W
Mr. Burns

To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on the trials on the vaccine's suitability for the immunisation of all children under 2 against pneumococcal disease will be available. [51926]

Yvette Cooper

Trials to investigate how pneumococcal conjugate vaccines could be incorporated into the UK infant immunisation schedule are in progress and will be completed late this year. These studies are assessing the compatibility of giving pneumococcal conjugate vaccines at the same time as other paediatric vaccines, including meningococcal C conjugate vaccine, and whether three doses in infancy plus a booster is necessary.

Studies to document the full burden of morbidity attributable to pneumococcal disease in UK children are also in progress together with cost effectiveness analyses.

The studies will then be reviewed by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) which will make recommendations to the Government based on its conclusions.

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