Asked by: Juliet Campbell (Labour - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what step his Department will take to ensure people who need COVID boosters receive them.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious illness, resulting in hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19.
The JCVI has advised that population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity following recovery from infection and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant, with rates of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 having reduced significantly since COVID-19 first emerged.
The focus of the JCVI advised programme has therefore moved towards targeted vaccination of the two groups who continue to be at higher risk of serious disease, including mortality. These are the oldest adults and individuals who are immunosuppressed. The JCVI’s advice for autumn 2025 is available at the following link:
The Government has accepted the JCVI’s advice for autumn 2025 and in line with the advice, a COVID-19 vaccination is being offered to the following groups:
The campaign in England began on 1 October 2025 and runs until 31 January 2026. General practitioners have been in direct communication with eligible people to encourage them to book their vaccinations, complemented by millions of targeted emails, texts, and letters sent nationally by the National Health Service. Appointments, including walk-in sessions, are available in local pharmacies, general practices, and community clinic drop-in centres across the country.
As for all vaccines, the JCVI keeps the evidence under regular review.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
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 extending eligibility for the Autumn 2025 COVID-19 vaccination to individuals under the age of 75 who, while not classified as immunosuppressed, have (a) COPD, (b) limited mobility and (c) other chronic health conditions that may increase their vulnerability to serious illness.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious illness, resulting in hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19.
The JCVI has advised that population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity following recovery from infection and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant, with rates of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 having reduced significantly since COVID-19 first emerged.
The focus of the JCVI advised programme has therefore moved towards targeted vaccination of the two groups who continue to be at higher risk of serious disease, including mortality. These are the oldest adults and individuals who are immunosuppressed. The Government has accepted the JCVI’s advice for autumn 2025 and in line with the advice, a COVID-19 vaccination is being offered to the following groups:
- adults aged 75 years old and over;
- residents in care homes for older adults; and
- individuals aged six months and over who are immunosuppressed.
As for all vaccines, the JCVI keeps the evidence under regular review.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research his Department is undertaking into side affects of the AstraZenica covid vaccine; through what process his Department are recognising emerging side effects; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Vaccines are only authorised once they have met robust standards of effectiveness, safety, and quality set by the independent medicines’ regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
The monitoring of vaccine safety does not stop once a vaccine has been approved. The MHRA continuously monitors safety data from a range of sources to ensure that the benefits continue to outweigh any risks. This includes reports of adverse events and rare side effects retrieved from the MHRA’s Yellow Card Database, interim and final study reports for clinical trials, post-authorisation safety studies, and data from scientific literature. A dedicated team of assessors reviews this information on a weekly basis to look for safety issues or unexpected, rare events.
The Department also commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including for vaccine side effects.
Since the start of the pandemic, the NIHR has allocated more than £110 million of funding for COVID-19 vaccine research, including consideration of issues around vaccine safety. As part of this, the Department commissioned a £1.6 million programme of work through the NIHR to understand the mechanisms underlying the occurrence of COVID-19 vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia syndrome, a rare condition of blood clotting with low platelets following vaccination for COVID-19. This research was published in July 2025 and is available in the NIHR Journals Library.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is undertaking research into (a) damage and (b) lasting effects from the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Vaccines are only authorised once they have met robust standards of effectiveness, safety, and quality set by the independent medicines’ regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
The monitoring of vaccine safety does not stop once a vaccine has been approved. The MHRA continuously monitors safety data from a range of sources to ensure that the benefits continue to outweigh any risks. This includes reports of adverse events and rare side effects retrieved from the MHRA’s Yellow Card Database, interim and final study reports for clinical trials, post-authorisation safety studies, and data from scientific literature. A dedicated team of assessors reviews this information on a weekly basis to look for safety issues or unexpected, rare events.
The Department also commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including for vaccine side effects.
Since the start of the pandemic, the NIHR has allocated more than £110 million of funding for COVID-19 vaccine research, including consideration of issues around vaccine safety. As part of this, the Department commissioned a £1.6 million programme of work through the NIHR to understand the mechanisms underlying the occurrence of COVID-19 vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia syndrome, a rare condition of blood clotting with low platelets following vaccination for COVID-19. This research was published in July 2025 and is available in the NIHR Journals Library.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 4 November 2025 to Question 81420 on Coronavirus: Vaccination, how many covid-19 vaccinations were delivered in winter (a) 2025-26, (b) 2024-25 and (c) 2023-24.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
COVID-19 vaccination uptake figures are published regularly during the spring and winter campaigns, as part of the national flu and COVID-19 surveillance report. Data is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/weekly-national-flu-reports
For the winter campaigns, the following publications may be of interest:
Note that this data is specific to England.
Asked by: Lord Harper (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of removing eligibility for the COVID-19 booster vaccine on people with learning disabilities.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious illness, resulting in hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19.
The JCVI has advised that population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity following recovery from infection and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant, with rates of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 having reduced significantly since COVID-19 first emerged.
The focus of the JCVI advised programme has therefore moved towards targeted vaccination of the two groups who continue to be at higher risk of serious disease and mortality. These are the oldest adults and individuals who are immunosuppressed. The JCVI’s full advice for autumn 2025 is available on the GOV.UK website, in an online only format. The Government has accepted the JCVI’s advice for autumn 2025 and in line with the advice a COVID-19 vaccination is being offered to the following groups in autumn 2025:
As with other United Kingdom vaccination programmes, the JCVI’s advice on eligibility carefully considered the evidence on the risk of illness, serious disease, or death as a consequence of infection, in specific groups, as well as a cost-effectiveness analysis. The JCVI has engaged a number of organisations representing adults with learning disabilities to discuss the COVID-19 vaccine eligibility criteria.
The most recent Learning from Lives and Deaths: People with a Learning Disability and Autistic People Annual Report, based on 2023 data and published in September 2025, highlights how COVID-19 has fallen significantly as a cause of death in people with learning disabilities since the pandemic in 2021. Although it is important to caveat that the data in this report may not be complete for 2023 due to data collection issues, the trend observed provides reassurance that the risk of severe COVID-19 is much lower now than previously, including for people with a learning disability and autistic people.
As for all vaccines, the JCVI keeps the evidence under regular review.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what has been the cost to the public purse of the indemnity to pharmaceutical companies in the context of Covid-19 vaccines.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government cannot comment on the terms on which COVID-19 vaccinations were procured, which are confidential.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to publish a winter preparedness analysis for 2025-26 defining eligibility for covid boosters.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is an independent expert committee which reviews the latest data on COVID-19 risks, vaccine safety, and effectiveness and advises the department on the approach to vaccination and immunisation programmes. The JCVI published advice for future COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in autumn 2025 and spring 2026 in November 2024, and published advice for autumn 2026 and spring 2027 in July 2025. The Government accepted JCVI advice for autumn 2025 in June 2025. The Government is considering the JCVI’s advice for 2026 and spring 2027 carefully and will respond in due course.
The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious disease, involving hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19. The JCVI assessment indicates that the oldest age cohorts and individuals who are immunosuppressed are the two groups who continue to be at higher risk of serious disease.
Therefore, in autumn 2025, a COVID-19 vaccination is being offered to:
- adults aged 75 years old and over;
- residents in a care home for older adults;
- individuals aged six months and over who are immunosuppressed, as defined in the ‘immunosuppression’ sections of tables 3 or 4 in the COVID-19 chapter of the UK Health Security Agency Green Book.
The National Health Service is preparing earlier and more robustly for winter this year, with rigorous stress testing of local plans, closer working with local partners, and a far earlier kick-off of winter preparations. Vaccinations have been ramped up across the board for flu, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus so families can protect themselves and others. This includes the surge capacity and escalation plans in place across all NHS and urgent care services. As set out in the 2025/26 Urgent Emergency Care Plan, the NHS is focusing on improvements that will see the biggest impact on urgent and emergency care performance this winter. The 2025/26 Urgent Emergency Care Plan is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/urgent-and-emergency-care-plan-2025-26/
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on what evidential basis the minimum age for free covid-19 inoculations to be offered by the NHS, other than for people with particular vulnerabilities, was set at 75; and what information his Department holds on (a) the number of deaths there have been from covid-19 in (i) vaccinated and (ii) unvaccinated age groups below 75 and (b) the likelihood of (A) vaccinated and (B) unvaccinated people aged between 50 and 75 of contracting a long-Covid infection in the last 12 months.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious illness, resulting in hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19. Population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity following recovery from infection and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant, with rates of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 having reduced significantly since COVID-19 first emerged.
The focus of the JCVI advised programme has therefore moved towards targeted vaccination of the two groups who continue to be at higher risk of serious disease, including mortality. These are the oldest adults and individuals who are immunosuppressed.
On 13 November 2024, the JCVI published advice on who should be offered vaccination in autumn 2025, and on 26 June 2025, the Government accepted the JCVI’s advice. The JCVI’s advice is available at the following link:
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) continues to monitor COVID-19 through a variety of indicators and surveillance systems. Data over the last 12 months is not available by vaccination status. Information regarding the number of deaths from COVID-19 is available on the UKHSA data dashboard, at the following link:
https://ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk/respiratory-viruses/covid-19#deaths
The UKHSA does not hold information regarding the likelihood of vaccinated and unvaccinated people aged between 50 and 75 years old contracting a long-covid infection.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of excluding (a) general practitioners and (b) other frontline medical staff from the covid-19 booster vaccination programme in autumn 2025 on (i) patient safety and (ii) workforce resilience; if he will take steps to amend the eligibility criteria.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The JCVI has advised that COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant, with rates of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 having reduced significantly since it first emerged. The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious illness, resulting in hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19. On 13 November 2024, the JCVI published advice on the COVID-19 vaccination programme for spring 2025, autumn 2025, and spring 2026. This advice is available at the following link:
On 26 June 2025, the Government accepted the JCVI’s advice for autumn 2025, and in line with this, in autumn 2025 a COVID-19 vaccination is being offered to adults aged 75 years old and over, residents in care homes for older adults, and the immunosuppressed aged six months old and over.
In line with JCVI advice, frontline health and social care workers (HSCWs) and staff working in care homes for older adults are not eligible for COVID-19 vaccination under the national programme for autumn 2025. This is following an extensive review by JCVI of the scientific evidence surrounding the impact of vaccination on the transmission of the virus from HSCWs to patients, protection of HSCWs against symptoms of the disease, and staff sickness absences.
In the current era of high population immunity to COVID-19, additional COVID-19 doses provide very limited, if any, protection against infection and any subsequent onward transmission of infection. For HSCWs, this means that COVID-19 vaccination likely now has only a very limited impact on patient safety and reducing staff sickness absence. Therefore, the focus of the programme is on those at greatest risk of serious disease and who are, as a consequence, most likely to continue to benefit from vaccination.
Any HSCW who is otherwise eligible, because of their age or due to immunosuppression, is encouraged to take up the offer of vaccination.
The Government has accepted JCVI’s advice on eligibility for the autumn 2025 COVID-19 vaccination programme and has no plans to review eligibility for this campaign. As for all vaccines, the JCVI keeps the evidence under regular review.