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.
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 housebound residents have received at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccination in (a) Leicester East constituency and (b) the UK.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The data is not held in the format requested. However, NHS England publishes daily data for vaccinations in England, showing the total first and second doses given to date, by region. NHS England also publishes the number of people in the clinically extremely vulnerable cohort who have received their first and second doses, updated weekly. The number of vaccinations in each United Kingdom constituency by age group is also updated weekly. The data is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-vaccinations/
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 plans his Department has to study the efficacy of a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech covid-19 vaccine beyond 21 days.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Public Health England (PHE) has been monitoring the effectiveness of the vaccines. Early data has shown that the Pfizer vaccine is highly effective in reducing COVID-19 infections among older people aged 70 years old and over. Since January, protection against symptomatic COVID-19 four weeks after the first dose ranged from 57-61% for one dose.
PHE has also undertaken their first analysis of the early effects of COVID-19 vaccination using routine testing and vaccination data across England. This data, published in a pre-print on 1 March 2021, provides early evidence that a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine is having a significant effect on the reduction of COVID-19 infection, hospitalisations and deaths in those over 70 years old. The Pfizer vaccine was shown as approximately 60-70% effective, rising to 85-90% after two doses. This analysis 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, whether his Department has made an assessment of worst-case scenario if it is proven that protection from a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech covid-19 vaccine does not persist after 21 days.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
After studying all the available data, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) concluded that the first dose of either Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine provided substantial protection from severe COVID-19 disease within two to three weeks of vaccination. Whilst the second vaccine dose is important to sustain the protection and extend its duration, in the short term the additional impact of the second dose is likely to be modest and most of the initial protection from clinical disease is after the first dose of vaccine.
The latest data from Public Health England, published on 1 March showed that both the Pfizer and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines are highly effective in reducing COVID-19 infections among older people aged 70 years old and over. Since January protection against symptomatic COVID-19, four weeks after the first dose, ranged between 57 and 61% for one dose of Pfizer and between 60 and 73% for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
No specific assessment has been made. The decision to extend the dosing interval to up to twelve weeks was based on advice from the JCVI and United Kingdom’s four Chief Medical Officers.
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 plans his Department has to produce an estimate of the efficacy for a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech covid-19 vaccine beyond 21 days.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
After studying all the available data, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) concluded that the first dose of either Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine provided substantial protection from severe COVID-19 disease within two to three weeks of vaccination. Whilst the second vaccine dose is important to sustain the protection and extend its duration, in the short term the additional impact of the second dose is likely to be modest and most of the initial protection from clinical disease is after the first dose of vaccine.
The latest data from Public Health England, published on 1 March showed that both the Pfizer and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines are highly effective in reducing COVID-19 infections among older people aged 70 years old and over. Since January protection against symptomatic COVID-19, four weeks after the first dose, ranged between 57 and 61% for one dose of Pfizer and between 60 and 73% for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
No specific assessment has been made. The decision to extend the dosing interval to up to twelve weeks was based on advice from the JCVI and United Kingdom’s four Chief Medical Officers.
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 proportion of care home (a) residents and (b) staff have been (i) offered and (ii) refused each vaccine dose in care homes in (A) Leicester East constituency, (B) Leicester and (C) the UK.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The information requested is not collected centrally.
Published data for England from 4 March shows that as at 28 February, 93.8% of eligible care home residents and 72.9% of eligible care home staff had received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The proportion of care home residents and staff who have received their second dose is not yet available.
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 proportion of NHS staff in each ethnic group in Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland have been offered the covid-19 vaccine; and how many of those people have (a) refused and (b) not yet taken up the vaccine.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The information is not currently held in the format requested.
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 report of the British Society for Immunology for studies on the efficacy of the Pfizer/BioNTech covid-19 vaccine after altering the dosing interval of that vaccine.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The British Society for Immunology report provides an expert review of current research on immunity and COVID-19 and recommends research to add to our knowledge about the immune system’s response. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and UK Research and Innovation are jointly funding the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium, which will address key research themes on immunity to COVID-19.
In addition, the NIHR has contracted the National Immunisation Schedule Evaluation Consortium to gather immunological evidence on 28 day and 12 week dosing intervals for the Oxford University/AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines. Public Health England is also monitoring the effectiveness of vaccines on disease, infection and transmission including the impact of dosing intervals on effectiveness.
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, whether the personal data of those seeking access to NHS services is shared with immigration enforcement authorities.
Answered by Edward Argar
National Health Service trusts may contact the Home Office in relation to overseas visitors who are presenting or have presented for NHS secondary care treatment for the following two purposes:
- To complete an immigration status check through the Home Office Evidence and Enquiry service, where the trust is unable to establish this by any other means and this information is relevant to establishing a person’s entitlement to free secondary care; and
- To notify the Home Office of individuals subject to immigration control with debts of £500 or more that have been outstanding for two or more months. In doing so they must follow strict processes, set out in the Department of Health and Social Care’s guidance.