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 in special schools have access to the covid-19 vaccine; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of making teachers and school staff in special schools a priority group for vaccination.

We have no plans to prioritise teachers and key workers by their occupation.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s interim advice for phase two of the vaccination programme sets out the most effective way to minimise hospitalisations and deaths is to continue to prioritise people by age.

If teachers or key workers are captured in phase one or two due to their age or clinical need they will be vaccinated accordingly.