Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of placing patients who receive in-centre haemodialysis in priority group 1 for covid-19 vaccination.
For phase one of the vaccine programme, the underlying principles at the forefront of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice are to reduce mortality and morbidity, and to protect the National Health Service and social care systems. Having considered a number of different vaccination strategies, the robust evidence indicates that the best option for preventing mortality in the initial phase of the programme is to directly protect persons most at risk.
Having identified age as being the biggest determining risk factor to increased mortality the JCVI has advised for cohort one vaccinations should be prioritised for older care home residents and staff given the high levels of severe outcomes in this cohort. This is followed by health and social care workers, then to the rest of the population aged 50 years old and above in order of age and clinical risk factors.
Those undergoing haemodialysis have been prioritised in priority cohort six as defined in the Green Book Chapter 14a for those with chronic kidney disease. Further information is available at the following link: