In 2002, the chief medical officer published his report: “Getting Ahead of the Curve: a strategy for combating infectious diseases (including other aspects of health protection)”.
This set out steps towards improving the protection of the health of the population of England. We have no plans to revise this document which has been placed in the Library. The key measure proposed in the document was the creation of a Health Infection Control and Health Protection Agency. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) was constituted accordingly under the Health Protection Agency Act 2004. The HPA now provides strong science-based support to the NHS, local government and others on all matters relating to infectious disease, radiation, chemical contamination, and other hazards.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation provides independent expert advice on vaccination issues. Since ‘Getting Ahead of the Curve’ was published, we have introduced pneumococcal vaccination for children, human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for girls and young women, and have switched from oral polio vaccines to an inactivated polio vaccine.