Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that GPs are able to identify (a) asthma and (b) ME patients for the covid-19 vaccine through their medical records.

To assist general practitioners (GPs) identify patients eligible for a vaccine in each priority cohort, NHS Digital has aligned specifications for the identification of patients via their medical records with GP system suppliers. Asthma sufferers will be identified through this system and invited to make an appointment when the vaccination programme has reached their respective priority cohort.

To date, chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) has not been identified as either a condition that makes an individual clinically extremely vulnerable or as a condition that would place an individual at increased clinical risk from COVID-19. GPs will therefore not specifically be identifying CFS/ME patients for COVID-19 vaccines via their medical records. It is more likely that patients with CFS/ME will be offered COVID-19 vaccines because they are eligible through other means such as their age, or they have other underlying health issues that would put them at increased clinical risk.