Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Green Book COVID vaccine schedule in Chapter 14a, whether it is Government policy that frontline funeral operatives and mortuary technicians are frontline healthcare staff, as recommended in the recommendations by staff groups, and relevant to Priority Group 2 as advised by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) identified that the vaccination of frontline healthcare workers should be a priority for the COVID-19 vaccination programme. Frontline staff are at high risk of acquiring COVID-19 infection but also of transmitting that infection to multiple persons who are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 as well as to other staff in a healthcare environment.

Funeral operatives have been prioritised for vaccination in cohort two and staff will be eligible for prioritisation if they carry out functions which require them to have contact with multiple vulnerable patients in a healthcare setting and at a high risk of exposure to COVID-19.