Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to encourage police officers to take-up their covid-19 vaccinations when eligible.

There are no plans to make the Covid-19 vaccine compulsory. The decision to do so is a personal one for each of us, including police officers. But we would encourage anyone offered a vaccine to accept it.

For Phase 1 of the vaccine roll-out, the Government has rightly prioritised the elderly, given the disproportionate impact of the virus by age range. The clinically vulnerable, and front-line Health and Social Care staff who care for them, are also being prioritised. Phase 1 also includes police officers and staff who fall into these categories.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice for Phase 2 of the vaccination programme sets out that the most effective way to minimise hospitalisations and deaths is to continue to prioritise people by age. 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, prioritising people by age enables us to operationally vaccinate more people, providing them with protection from Covid-19.