Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the response of patients with (1) asthma, and (2) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, to the COVID-19 vaccination programme; and what assessment they have made of that programme's prioritisation of such patients.

Public Health England (PHE) is actively monitoring effectiveness of vaccination in accordance with the COVID-19 vaccine surveillance strategy. This includes monitoring of clinical risk groups which will include those with chronic respiratory disease as defined in “Immunisation against infectious disease” (the Green Book). PHE has made no assessment of the response to the COVID-19 vaccination programme in people with asthma and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

PHE supports the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation which has prioritised people with severe asthma and/or COPD into cohort six together with other people in an at-risk group: “Individuals with a severe lung condition, including those with asthma that requires continuous or repeated use of systemic steroids or with previous exacerbations requiring hospital admission, and COPD including chronic bronchitis and emphysema”. The examples are not exhaustive, and, within these groups, the prescriber should apply clinical judgement to take into account the risk of COVID-19 exacerbating any underlying disease that a patient may have, as well as the risk of serious illness from COVID-19 itself.