Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether prioritisation for the covid-19 vaccine within a priority group will be based on occupation; and if he will take steps to ensure that frontline workers are prioritised for that vaccination.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) did not advise prioritising within a priority group so we are vaccinating on the basis of age rather than occupation.

For Phase 2 of the COVID-19 vaccination programme, JCVI published its interim advice on 26 February, setting out that the most effective way to minimise hospitalisations and deaths is to continue to prioritise people by age, rather than by occupation. This is because age is assessed to be the strongest factor linked to mortality, morbidity and hospitalisations, and because the speed of delivery is crucial as we provide more people with protection from COVID-19.