Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2022 to Question 119676, what further steps his Department plans to implement to control covid-19 infection and mortality in response to rising covid-19 infection rates and hospitalisations.

The Government will manage COVID-19 in line with most other respiratory illnesses, while aiming to protect those most vulnerable. The best defence against COVID-19 infection and the risk of hospitalisation is vaccination. As of 20 March 2022, in England 85.6% of the population aged 12 years old and over has received two doses of vaccine and 71.7% of those aged 18 years old and over has received a third primary dose or booster vaccination. On 21 February, the Government accepted advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on offering a further dose to some individuals in a spring COVID-19 vaccination programme. The primary aim of the programme is to reduce the risk of severe disease among the most vulnerable. A further dose will be offered to adults aged 75 years old and over, residents in care homes for older adults and individuals aged 12 years old and over who are immunosuppressed.

The Government has secured a total of 4.98 million patient courses of oral antiviral treatments as a further measure to protect against COVID-19, particularly for those who are not eligible for the vaccine or who have been vaccinated but do not develop sufficient immunity.