Dr Conall Watson: key facts
- Kind of voice
- Clinician
- Role
- consultant epidemiologist RSV lead at the UK Health Security Agency
- Quoted on
- Respiratory (asthma/COPD), Hospital discharge / bed-blocking
- Tracked press citations
- 6
- Most recently quoted
- 30 Sept 2026
- First quoted
- 27 Aug 2026
“New evidence makes it clear that these two groups of patients are at the highest risk of needing hospital admission due to RSV. The vaccine gives excellent protection against severe lung infection, and I would encourage anyone eligible to take it up when offered.”
What Dr Conall Watson has said
“RSV lung infection is less well known than Covid or flu but for older adults it can be particularly dangerous and puts thousands in hospital each year with a risk to life. It's great news that the vaccine is now available to everyone aged 75 and over, including all those aged over 80.”
consultant epidemiologist RSV lead at the UK Health Security Agency · Respiratory (asthma/COPD) · 10 Sept 2026 · RSV vaccine opened up to over-80s with three million extra adults eligible ↗
“Our analysis of the RSV vaccination programme in England is important confirmation of the results from the clinical trial, but this study is 40 times bigger and clearly shows the hugely beneficial effect on reducing hospital admission.”
consultant epidemiologist at UKHSA, co-author and national programme lead for RSV · Respiratory (asthma/COPD) · 10 Sept 2026 · RSV maternal vaccine cuts baby hospital admissions by up to 85% ↗
“This is an important expansion of the RSV immunisation programme. New evidence makes it clear that these two groups of patients are at the highest risk of needing hospital admission due to RSV. The vaccine gives excellent protection against severe lung infection, and I would encourage anyone eligible to take it up when offered.”
consultant epidemiologist at the UKHSA · Respiratory (asthma/COPD) · 10 Sept 2026 · RSV vaccine offer to be extended to thousands more vulnerable adults ↗
“Intensive care admissions have halved since the introduction of the maternal vaccine programme. A&E bronchiolitis attendances are also down. The RSV vaccine is highly effective and has an excellent safety profile in UK monitoring and internationally.”
immunisation consultant at UKHSA · Respiratory (asthma/COPD) · 10 Sept 2026 · Maternal RSV vaccination halved number of babies in intensive care ↗
“There is still plenty of flu vaccine available to protect those who need it. What's running out is time to be protected ahead of Christmas.”
Consultant epidemiologist at the UKHSA · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · NHS bracing for worst ever winter crisis in next fortnight amid rising flu cases ↗
Where Dr Conall Watson has been quoted
- RSV vaccination extended to over-65s with chronic respiratory diseasenursinginpractice.com · 30 Sept 2026
- RSV vaccine opened up to over-80s with three million extra adults eligiblepulsetoday.co.uk · 10 Sept 2026
- RSV maternal vaccine cuts baby hospital admissions by up to 85%pulsetoday.co.uk · 10 Sept 2026
- RSV vaccine offer to be extended to thousands more vulnerable adultspulsetoday.co.uk · 10 Sept 2026
- Maternal RSV vaccination halved number of babies in intensive carepulsetoday.co.uk · 10 Sept 2026
- NHS bracing for worst ever winter crisis in next fortnight amid rising flu casestheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
Related media coverage
Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.
Doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and other registered clinicians quoted in a clinical capacity. Citations are counted by an automated scan of UK press coverage and may be incomplete. Roles, biographies and contact details are researched and human-reviewed before they appear here; anything not yet reviewed is simply absent rather than shown unverified. This profile was last updated on 5 Oct 2026. See the methodology for how this page is built, or email contact@bridgeheadcommunications.com to correct anything on it.