Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of putting asthma sufferers who purchase asthma medicine abroad in the same priority group as clinically vulnerable asthma sufferers for the covid-19 vaccination.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, having looked at a wide range of evidence, concluded that only a subset of those with asthma are at clinically higher risk from COVID-19. This group is defined as adults with asthma who require continuous or repeated use of systemic steroids or with previous exacerbations requiring hospital admission. They will be vaccinated in priority group six. Some individuals with more severe asthma may also be included in the clinically extremely vulnerable group, in which case they will be vaccinated in priority group four.