Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made any special arrangements to encourage people living illegally in the UK to receive covid-19 vaccinations in recognition that those people will not have NHS or national insurance numbers and may be fearful of engaging with the covid-19 vaccination programme.

Vaccination against COVID-19 is offered to every adult living in the United Kingdom free of charge, regardless of immigration status. Entitlement to free National Health Service treatment is generally based on ordinary residence in the UK. A person who can show they have taken up ordinary residence in the UK can access all NHS services immediately, including COVID-19 vaccinations, based on clinical need. No immigration checks are needed to receive these services and the NHS is not required to report undocumented migrants to the Home Office.

An NHS number is not needed to make a booking for a COVID-19 vaccine or when attending a vaccination appointment. If individuals are registered with a general practitioner (GP), their GP will contact them in due course. If they are not registered with a GP, NHS regional teams, will contact unregistered people to ensure they are offered the vaccine. The Enhanced Service Specification: COVID-19 vaccination programme 2020/21 enables practices working within their Primary Care Network groupings from shared vaccination sites to vaccinate unregistered patients provided they are eligible.