Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the evidence used to inform his decision to remove the requirement from 16 August 2021 for people who have received both doses of a covid-19 vaccine to self-isolate when they have been in close contact with someone who tests positive for covid-19.

Several studies of vaccine effectiveness have been conducted in the UK which indicate that a single dose of either vaccine is between 55% and 70% effective against symptomatic disease, with higher levels of protection against severe disease including hospitalisation and death. Additional protection is seen after a second dose

Public Health England (PHE) publishes weekly COVID-19 vaccine surveillance reports;. The reports include the latest evidence on vaccine effectiveness against different outcomes, and can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccine-surveillance-report

This published data informed the decision to exempt fully vaccinated contacts from self-isolation from 16 August. The press notice published by the Department, setting out the reasons for this policy, can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/self-isolation-to-be-eased-for-fully-vaccinated-adults-in-step-4