Classification: Official
Publication reference: PRN01974

To:

• integrated care board:
  • chief executives
  • accountable officers
• NHS trust:
  • chief executives
• local government:
  • chief executives
• sexual health services
• HIV clinics
• directors of public health
• local authority sexual commissioner leads

cc:

• regional directors of commissioning
• regional directors
• general practices

Dear colleagues

Action needed for delivery of routine mpox and gonorrhoea vaccination programmes 2025

The government has accepted the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice that the NHS should implement:

• a routine mpox pre-exposure vaccination programme building on the existing offer
• a routine opportunistic gonorrhoea vaccination programme

We are writing to systems to outline next steps for delivering both programmes in sexual health services to protect individuals and reduce the spread of infections.

Eligibility

The JCVI advised that the vaccination programmes, which have similar eligibility criteria, should primarily target gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) who meet the eligibility criteria and are at highest risk of exposure to these infections. There may also be a small number of individuals other than GBMSM with a similar incidence of infection as the eligible GBMSM groups who may be offered the vaccines.

Individuals should be identified through sexual health services, using markers of high risk of infection, including a recent history of multiple sexual partners or recent bacterial sexually transmitted infection. Full details on the eligible cohorts for each programme will be made available in the mpox and gonorrhoea chapters of the Green Book.

Start date

Providers can begin to start vaccinating eligible people from 1 August 2025 once they have contracts in place, staff are trained, and vaccines are in stock (available via ImmForm).

All providers must be vaccinating by no later than 1 September 2025.

Next steps

Regional commissioners should now start working with integrated care boards and local authorities (including directors of public health) to commission sexual health service providers to deliver the routine programmes.

In planning the services, partners should consider how commissioning and operational delivery can be aligned with other vaccination programmes in sexual health services. All sexual health services providers should be engaged in plans to consider how they could offer the programmes to ensure effective programme coverage and equity of access. There may be exceptional circumstances where the service offer is consolidated locally.

Commissioning will be through direct award process B under the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. Funding for these programmes has been made available, and regional commissioners will confirm payment arrangements based on local agreements.

NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency will publish further operational and clinical guidance to support these vaccination programmes in the coming weeks. This will be cascaded through the usual routes.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Temmink, Director of Vaccination, NHS England