Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason learning disabled adults have not been included in the covid-19 spring booster 2023 programme.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is the independent body made up of scientific and clinical experts who advise Government on which authorised vaccines the United Kingdom should use and which groups in the population should be offered initial or further doses of a particular vaccine.

The primary aim of the COVID-19 vaccination programme continues to be the prevention of severe disease (hospitalisation and mortality) arising from COVID-19. The JCVI advice is that older persons, residents in care homes for older adults and those who are immunosuppressed continue to be at highest risk of severe COVID-19.

For spring 2023 the JCVI has recommended that an extra booster vaccine dose should be offered to adults aged 75 years old and over, residents in a care home for older adults and individuals aged five years old and over who are immunosuppressed, as defined in tables three or four in the COVID-19 chapter of the UK Health Security Agency Green Book. This can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-the-green-book-chapter-14a

Those in any risk group, as defined in tables three or four of the Green Book, were eligible for a booster as part of the recent autumn 2022 COVID-19 booster programme. This included all those aged five years old or above who have a learning disability.

The JCVI advice published on 27 January 2023 advises that there should be a further booster programme in autumn 2023 for those at higher risk of severe COVID-19. The Government has accepted this advice and the National Health Service is planning for a further COVID-19 booster programme this autumn. Detailed advice from JCVI on which groups should be included is expected to follow in due course.

The Government continues to be guided by the JCVI on COVID-19 vaccine deployment and on who should be offered COVID-19 vaccinations. The JCVI regularly reviews its advice in relation to the COVID-19 vaccination programme, considering new data, evidence on the effectiveness of the programme and the epidemiological situation.