Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of date at which the health effect of covid-19 restrictions outweighs the risk of the virus when the covid-19 vaccine has been rolled out to the most vulnerable people.

The Government published the ‘COVID-19 Response - Spring 2021’ on 22 February, to provide a roadmap out of restrictions that balances social and economic priorities while remaining vigilant to the latest scientific evidence.

At each step of the roadmap we will make an assessment against the following four tests: the vaccine deployment programme continues successfully; the evidence shows vaccines are sufficiently effective in reducing hospitalisations and deaths in those vaccinated; infection rates do not risk a surge in hospitalisations which would put unsustainable pressure on the National Health Service; and our assessment of the risks is not fundamentally changed by new variants of concern. Following these tests will manage the risk of needing to increase restrictions, including further lockdown.

In order to set out a strategy for full relaxation, we will learn more about the impact of the vaccination programme and the effects of easing of restrictions. We are conducting a number of reviews, including on social distancing and other baseline measures. The results of these reviews will help inform the timing and circumstances under which we may be able to lift remaining restrictions.