Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help people who are clinically vulnerable to access a covid-19 booster vaccination.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is the independent body made up of scientific and clinical experts who advise Government on which authorised vaccines the United Kingdom should use and which groups in the population should be offered initial or further doses of a particular vaccine.

The JCVI identified a number of groups in the population at higher clinical risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19. These were originally described as clinically vulnerable but are now referred to as people in clinical risk groups. The full list of clinical risk groups is defined in tables three and four of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) guide to vaccinators known as the Green Book.

The primary aim of the COVID-19 vaccination programme continues to be the prevention of severe disease, such as hospitalisation and mortality, arising from COVID-19 and risk is strongly linked to age and clinical condition.

All those in clinical risk groups will have been offered a COVID-19 vaccine dose in autumn 2022. Earlier this year the Government accepted advice from the JCVI to offer an additional spring 2023 booster dose to those at highest risk in the population from severe COVID-19. This highest risk group includes all adults aged 75 years old and over, residents in a care home for older adults and immunosuppressed individuals aged five years old and over. The JCVI has also advised that there should be a booster campaign targeted to persons at higher risk of severe COVID-19, in autumn 2023. The JCVI is expected to provide advice ahead of autumn on which risk groups should be included.

The NHS continues to emphasise the role of clinicians in proactively identifying clinically vulnerable cohorts and are working alongside patient charities and professional bodies to ensure anyone eligible is identified and referred for vaccination. Tailored communications have been developed for specialists caring for each group of eligible patients within the immunosuppressed cohort, such as template referral letters to make it as easy as possible for clinicians to signpost people to get their vaccination. The Government is also working with the NHS and UKHSA to provide advice and information at every possible opportunity to support those getting the vaccine and to anyone who might have questions about the vaccination process.