Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (Hansard, 19 December 2003)

§ Sandra Osborne
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation will meet(a) to review the clinical trials and (b) to decide on a policy on whether to include the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine into the childhood immunisation programme; [142971]
(2) what assessment he has made of the effect on incidences of disease in adults in the USA of routine infant pneumococcal immunisation; and what plans he has for such routine immunisation. [142975]

§ Miss Melanie Johnson
The clinical trials are assessingthe level of protection that the vaccine offers infants in the United Kingdom; the optimal schedule of this vaccine in infants; whether there is a need for a booster dose of vaccine in the second year of life to maintain protection; and the impact that introducing this vaccine to the childhood schedule has on the level of protection given by the other vaccines.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) will meet to review the clinical trials as soon as they have been completed.
The independent expert advisory body, the JCVI, is currently examining the evidence of the potential benefits of introducing pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to the infant immunisation schedule. What is clear is that there are many uncertainties in the evidence, in particular in measuring the burden of pneumococcal disease, and the amount of disease that is expected to be prevented by a vaccine in both the short and longer term because it protects against only seven of the numerous strains of pneumococcus.
Research is being undertaken to try to answer the questions, and the JCVI is assessing the evidence as it develops.
Encouraging data is emerging from the United States on the impact the conjugate vaccine has had on reducing pneumococcal disease both in the children immunised and also in adults. The JCVI is assessing the evidence as it develops.

§ Dr. Tonge
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the comparative costs of(a) vaccinating children against pneumococcal disease and (b) treating the disease and its complications. [143019]

§ Miss Melanie Johnson
Studies are in place to assess the cost effectiveness of introducing pneumococcal vaccine into the childhood immunisation schedule by investigating the burden of pneumococcal disease in the United Kingdom and how much of this is vaccine preventable. The ongoing studies take into account the cost of treating the disease and its complications.
What is clear is that there are many uncertainties in the evidence, in particular in measuring the burden of pneumococcal disease, and in the amount of disease that 206W is expected to be prevented by a vaccine in both the short and longer term because it protects against only seven of the numerous strains of pneumococcus.