Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish all his communications with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on the decision to extend the maximum wait to receive the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech covid-19 vaccine to 12 weeks.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are independent and advise the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care through published statements and letters on GOV.UK. The Secretary of State’s acceptance of their advice is also published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he made of the World Health Organisation’s recommendations that two covid-19 vaccination doses should be administered within 42 days when deciding that the UK’s limit should be extended to 84 days.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Interim recommendations issued by the World Health Organization on 10 February 2021 on the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine concluded that vaccine efficacy tended to be higher when the interval between doses was longer, together with the finding of higher antibody levels with increasing inter-dose interval. This supports the conclusion that longer dose intervals are associated with greater vaccine efficacy.
The decision to extend the dosing interval in the United Kingdom was based on a range of scientific and public health input and evidence. This included the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the UK Chief Medical Officers. Experts concluded that the best way to save lives with a limited supply of vaccine was to prioritise the first doses of vaccine for as many people as possible on the priority list, to protect the greatest number of at-risk people in the shortest possible time.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies on the covid-19 vaccine rollout of the British Medical Journal report, Covid-19: Reports from Israel suggest one dose of Pfizer vaccine could be less effective than expected, published on 22 January 2021.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government has not made an assessment of the named British Medical Journal report.
An independent assessment of the data from Israel, published by the Norwich Medical School, concluded that estimated vaccine effectiveness is zero 14 days after vaccination, this rose to about 90% at day 21, before levelling off. Further information is available at the following link:
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.01.21250957v1.full
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has not undertaken a specific assessment. The JCVI’s position is that there is high efficacy with the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. The JCVI continues to advise two doses of the vaccine, with a three to 12 week interval.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and their international counterparts on the decision to extend the maximum wait to receive the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech covid-19 vaccine to 12 weeks.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care regularly discusses a range of issues related to the pandemic with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, including COVID-19 vaccines. Ministers and officials are regularly in discussions with other countries to share learning and collaborate internationally on the vaccination programme.
Updating the dosing interval is in line with the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). Whilst the National Health Service across the United Kingdom will prioritise giving the first dose of the vaccine to those in the most high-risk groups, everyone will still receive their second dose within 12 weeks of their first. The JCVI’s statement on changing the dose interval is available at the following link:
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many school age children have been diagnosed with symptoms of long covid to date in (a) Leicester East constituency and (b) England.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
There has been no specific assessment of the prevalence of ‘long’ COVID-19 in children.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it Government policy to undertake an inquiry into the disproportionate effect of covid-19 on BAME, migrant and low-income workers.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have no plans to do so. The Minister for Equalities (Kemi Badenoch MP) is leading cross-Government work to understand the disparities in the risks and outcomes from COVID-19 among the black, Asian and minority ethnic community and the relationships between the different risk factors.
Her first quarterly progress report concluded that a range of socioeconomic and geographical factors coupled with pre-existing health conditions were contributing to the higher infection and mortality rates for ethnic minority groups. The report can be found at the following link:
Findings of the second quarterly progress report included the role of deprivation in the unequal impact of COVID-19 which is available at the following link:
Tackling deprivation will be the focus of the third quarterly progress report. The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities has been set up to explore issues faced by ethnic minorities in this country and the challenges identified in the COVID-19 response is a key part of the Commission’s work, which is due to report shortly.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he will take to ensure that undocumented migrants will be able to access covid-19 vaccinations without fear of immigration enforcement action.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Vaccination against COVID-19 is offered to every adult living in the United Kingdom free of charge, regardless of immigration status. No immigration checks are needed to receive these services and the National Health Service is not required to report undocumented migrants to the Home Office.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the Home Office on the progress of the distribution of the covid-19 vaccine to undocumented migrants.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department and Public Health England have engaged with the Home Office throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, including in relation to the vaccination programme.
Anyone living in the United Kingdom, including refugees and asylum seekers, can receive a COVID-19 vaccine free of charge in line with advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s on prioritisation. Because there is no charge for the vaccine for people living in the UK, no proof of residence or immigration status is needed.
National Health Service regional teams, working with various appropriate local systems, will reach out to unregistered people to ensure that they are offered the vaccine. A condition of No Recourse of Public Funds does not have a bearing on a person’s access to healthcare or the COVID-19 vaccine.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the Home Office on the progress of the distribution of the covid-19 vaccine to UK residents with No Recourse to Public Funds.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department and Public Health England have engaged with the Home Office throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, including in relation to the vaccination programme.
Anyone living in the United Kingdom, including refugees and asylum seekers, can receive a COVID-19 vaccine free of charge in line with advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s on prioritisation. Because there is no charge for the vaccine for people living in the UK, no proof of residence or immigration status is needed.
National Health Service regional teams, working with various appropriate local systems, will reach out to unregistered people to ensure that they are offered the vaccine. A condition of No Recourse of Public Funds does not have a bearing on a person’s access to healthcare or the COVID-19 vaccine.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the Home Office on the progress of the distribution of the covid-19 vaccine to people awaiting determination of their asylum, visa and immigration applications.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department and Public Health England have engaged with the Home Office throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, including in relation to the vaccination programme.
Anyone living in the United Kingdom, including refugees and asylum seekers, can receive a COVID-19 vaccine free of charge in line with advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s on prioritisation. Because there is no charge for the vaccine for people living in the UK, no proof of residence or immigration status is needed.
National Health Service regional teams, working with various appropriate local systems, will reach out to unregistered people to ensure that they are offered the vaccine. A condition of No Recourse of Public Funds does not have a bearing on a person’s access to healthcare or the COVID-19 vaccine.