Coronavirus: Vaccination

(asked on 24th November 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation's updated interim advice on priority groups for COVID-19 vaccination, published on 25 September 2020, for what reason all people, regardless of age, considered clinically extremely vulnerable are not categorised as a stand-alone group; what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of people who share a home with people who are clinically extremely vulnerable being considered a higher priority group than the general population; and what plans the Government has to decide which health and social care staff should take priority.


Answered by
Jo Churchill Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 3rd February 2021

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are the independent experts who advise the Government on which vaccine/s the United Kingdom should use and provide advice on prioritisation at a population level. The JCVI has advised that the first priorities for any COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of COVID-19 mortality and the protection of health and social care staff and systems. Therefore, in line with the recommendations of the JCVI, the vaccine will be initially rolled out to the priority groups including care home residents and staff, people over 80 years old and health and care workers, then to the rest of the population in order of age and risk, including those who are clinically extremely vulnerable and individuals aged 16 to 64 years old with certain underlying health conditions. Those conditions are set out in the advice of the JCVI published on 30 December at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/priority-groups-for-coronavirus-covid-19-vaccination-advice-from-the-jcvi-30-december-2020/joint-committee-on-vaccination-and-immunisation-advice-on-priority-groups-for-covid-19-vaccination-30-december-2020

Consideration has been given to vaccination of household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals. However, at this time there is no data on the size of the effect of COVID-19 vaccines on transmission. Evidence is expected to accrue during the course of the vaccine programme, and until that time the committee is not in a position to advise vaccination solely on the basis of indirect protection.

By 15 February we aim to have offered a first vaccine dose to everyone in the top four priority groups identified by the JCVI:

- all residents in a care home for older adults and their carers;

- all those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers;

- all those 75 years of age and over; and

- all those 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals.

Reticulating Splines