Coronavirus: Vaccination
(asked on 3rd January 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of not allowing carers to be vaccinated for Covid-19 on people requiring care.
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of severe illness, namely hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19.
In its advice for the autumn 2024 vaccination campaign, the JCVI advised that COVID-19 vaccine should be offered to: adults aged 65 years old and over; residents in a care home for older adults; and persons aged six months to 64 years old in a clinical risk group, as defined in tables 3 and 4 of the COVID-19 chapter of the UK Health Security Agency Green Book, for which more information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/medicines-repurposing-programme-annual-highlights/
The JCVI noted that in the current era of high population immunity to COVID-19 and with all cases due to highly transmissible Omicron sub-variants, any protection offered by the vaccine against transmission of infection from one person to another is expected to be extremely limited. On this basis the JCVI did not advise offering vaccination to unpaid carers. The Government accepted JCVI advice for autumn 2024, which is available at the following link:
On 13 November 2024, the JCVI published advice on the COVID-19 vaccination programme covering vaccination in 2025 and spring 2026, which is available at the following link:
The Government has accepted JCVI advice on eligibility for the spring 2025 COVID-19 vaccination programme. The Government is considering the advice for autumn 2025 and spring 2026 carefully and will respond in due course.