Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason unpaid carers are not eligible for vaccination against Coronavirus, in the context of them being eligible for vaccination against flu.

The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious illness, resulting in hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19.

Although seasonal flu and COVID-19 can both cause severe disease, they differ in their epidemiology and pathology. As such, the population groups at higher risk of severe disease will not necessarily be the same for each pathogen and the JCVI has considered each programme individually.

The JCVI advised in its autumn 2024 advice that, in the current era of high population immunity to COVID-19 and with all cases due to Omicron sub-lineages of COVID-19, currently available COVID-19 vaccines provide limited protection against transmission and mild or asymptomatic disease. The JCVI therefore advised that the focus of the programme should be on offering vaccination where it directly protects an individual at higher risk. In line with this advice, unpaid carers ceased to be offered COVID-19 vaccination in autumn campaigns from autumn 2024. Eligibility for the spring COVID-19 vaccination campaigns has never included unpaid carers.

The focus of the COVID-19 vaccination programme is on vaccination of older adults and individuals who are immunosuppressed. These are the two groups who continue to be at higher risk of serious disease, including mortality.

In line with JCVI advice for spring 2026 and autumn 2026, a COVID-19 vaccination is being offered this spring and autumn to the following groups:

- adults aged 75 years old and over;

- residents in care homes for older adults; and

- individuals aged six months old and over who are immunosuppressed.

The JCVI keeps all vaccination programmes under review.