Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the finding of Public Health England published in COVID-19: deaths of people with learning disabilities on 12 November 2020, whether younger adults with learning disabilities have appropriate vaccine priority when they are 30 times more likely to die of covid-19 than young adults in the general population.

On 24 February 2021, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) published a clarification of their advice on vaccinating people with a learning disability. They confirmed their view that priority should be given to those with a severe and profound learning disability and supported a practical approach of inviting everyone on the general practice Learning Disability Register for vaccination in cohort six.

The JCVI also supported the planned approach to work with local authorities to identify those in residential and nursing care and those who required support, for example as part of assisted living in the community and those in shared accommodation with multiple occupancy, to ensure this population could be offered vaccination.