Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of including unpaid carers for individuals classed as clinically extremely vulnerable in the top Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation vaccine priority groups.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised that for phase one of the COVID-19 vaccination programme, the vaccine first be given to care home residents and staff and those aged over 80 years old, followed by health and social workers, then to the rest of the population in order of age and clinical risk factors.

Priority group six includes individuals aged 16 to 64 years old with certain underlying health conditions, which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality. Also in this priority group are those who are the main carer of an elderly or disabled person, whose welfare may be at risk if the carer falls ill. These individuals should also be offered vaccination alongside those with underlying health conditions