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 teachers and school staff have access to the covid-19 vaccine; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of making teachers and school staff a priority group for vaccination.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is the independent medical and scientific expert body which advises the Government on prioritisation for all vaccines.
The JCVI has advised that the priority for the first phase of the COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of mortality. The JCVI has advised that teachers will be considered for prioritisation in the second phase of the programme. Teachers and school staff aged 50 years and older, or in an at-risk group are eligible for vaccination in the first phase of the programme.