Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to help ensure that housebound patients receive a (a) covid-19 booster and (b) influenza vaccination; and if he will make a statement.

Housebound individuals were prioritised from the very start of the current COVID-19 booster campaign, alongside care home residents and staff, with home visits for autumn boosters starting from 5 September. Opportunities to co-administer COVID-19 booster and flu vaccines have been offered where feasible, but not to unduly delay the administration of either jab.

Local arrangements are in operation to vaccinate those who are housebound, with general practitioners, community pharmacies and National Health Service community teams visiting those who are housebound and are eligible for their COVID-19 booster and flu vaccines.

Nationally, to ensure eligible housebound individuals have access to a home visit for vaccinations, NHS regions and integrated care systems (ICS) together with primary care networks and Community Pharmacy-led and local vaccination services are working jointly to monitor progress and identify whether further interventions are required to help support and increase uptake.

A standard operating procedure (SOP) has been provided to Regions, ICSs and local health teams to support their efforts in providing COVID-19 vaccinations to housebound people, including capacity planning. This SOP can be found at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2021/06/C1432-Standard-Operating-Procedure-Roving-and-mobile-models-v2.pdf

We continue to focus on offering housebound individuals their seasonal vaccinations and increasing uptake of both COVID and flu vaccinations for all eligible groups this winter.