To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on what date he expects NHS England’s Palivizumab Expert Group to respond to the request from the JCVI to consider the eligibility of children with spinal muscular atrophy to receive the Palivizumab vaccination against respiratory syncytial virus.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to recommendations in the consensus statement of the 2017 International Conference on the Standards of Care on the use of Palivizumab for some categories of children with spinal muscular atrophy to protect from respiratory syncytial virus, if he will take steps to urgently review the eligibility criteria for the Palivizumab vaccine.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection poses a serious risk for children with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) with weakened respiratory muscles due to their condition. Following a letter from clinicians, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has requested that NHS England’s Palivizumab National Expert Group consider the eligibility of a sub-group of children with SMA to receive palivizumab vaccination this winter. This Group is preparing a briefing and on completion, it will meet and report the outcome of its discussion and recommendations to the JCVI. A specific date has yet to be confirmed.