Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that people with obesity are given timely access to the covid-19 vaccine; and if he will make a statement.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) consists of independent experts who advise the Government on which vaccine/s the United Kingdom should use, including prioritisation at a population level. For the first phase, the JVCI has advised that the vaccine be given to care home residents and staff, as well as frontline health and social care workers, then to the rest of the population in order of age and clinical risk factors.

Included are those with underlying health conditions, which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality. Individuals who are morbidly obese are included in the clinical risk groups aged 16 years old and over, identified by the JCVI.