Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of including people with disabilities in the priority list for covid-19 vaccination.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is the independent body made up of scientific and clinical experts who advise the Government on which vaccines the United Kingdom should use and provide advice on prioritisation at a population level. There is good evidence that certain underlying health conditions increase the risk of morbidity and mortality from COVID-19, therefore individuals with these underlying health conditions have been prioritised for a COVID-19 vaccination as part of phase one. These underlying health conditions do not include all disabilities. However, adults with Down’s syndrome are clinically extremely vulnerable and are included in priority group four. Those with severe and profound learning disability are in priority group six.

On 24 February the JCVI published a clarification of their advice on vaccinating people with a learning disability. They confirmed their view that priority should be given to those with a severe and profound learning disability, but recognised concerns about coding of learning disability on general practitioner (GP) systems and supported a practical approach of inviting everyone who is on a GP Learning Disability Register for vaccination in priority group six.