Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans she has to roll out the Covid 19 vaccination programme.

The Government remains committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). On 7 February 2024, the JCVI published further advice on the United Kingdom’s COVID-19 vaccination programme. The JCVI advice is that a COVID-19 vaccine should be offered in spring 2024 to those at greatest risk of serious disease, and who are therefore most likely to benefit from vaccination. Those eligible are:

- adults aged 75 years old and over;

- residents in a care home for older adults; and

- individuals aged six months old and over who are immunosuppressed, as defined in chapter 14a of the Green Book.

The Government has accepted this advice, with the spring 2024 COVID-19 vaccination programme planned to start in the middle of April. The JCVI will continue to review the optimal timing and frequency of future COVID-19 vaccination beyond spring 2024, and will provide further advice in due course.