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 merits for (a) public health and (b) patients' ability to access dental services of prioritising (i) dentists and (ii) other staff providing dental services for vaccination against covid-19.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommended that frontline healthcare staff including dentists and other staff providing dental services be vaccinated in priority group two. This advice was on based on their increased personal risk of exposure to infection with COVID-19 and of transmitting that infection to vulnerable patients.

Vaccinating dental staff also protects public health and enables access to services for patients. Staff were invited for their first vaccine dose before 15 February 2021 and will be have been offered their second dose within 12 weeks of their first.