Diphtheria: Slough
(asked on 1st February 2023) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he had discussions with the Secretary of State for Home Affairs on taking steps to help tackle the potential risk of diptheria infection in Slough ahead of the Home Office's decision to place diptheria-positive people in Slough hotels; and whether he plans to take steps to help increase the rate of diptheria innoculations in Slough.
Answered by
Maria Caulfield
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care meets regularly with other Cabinet colleagues, and ministerial meetings with external organisations are routinely published on GOV.UK. Officials attended a meeting chaired by the Home Office, alongside the East Berkshire Director of Public Health, Slough Local Authority colleagues and integrated care board partners, about people who had been placed in hotels who were diphtheria positive, where local concerns about this decision were raised with the Home Office.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has made recommendations for all new arrivals to receive a diphtheria containing vaccine as part of the ongoing outbreak response amongst asylum seekers. In addition, there are long-standing recommendations in place for migrants to be registered with primary care, and to have an assessment to check that they are up to date with the routine vaccinations and receive the recommended vaccines according to the United Kingdom schedule. To support the diphtheria outbreak response, UKHSA has produced a range of materials including information leaflets translated in a range of languages.
UKHSA published supplementary guidance on 1 February 2023 for cases and outbreaks in asylum seeker accommodation settings. This can be found at the following link: