Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will extend the list of people categorised as vulnerable in respect of the covid-19 outbreak to include newborn babies; and if he will make a statement.

The over 70s, women who are pregnant and adults who are eligible for the flu jab may be at increased risk from COVID-19 and have been advised to be particularly stringent in following stay at home measures.

We keep the list of categories which make someone clinically extremely vulnerable under constant clinical review. General practitioners (GPs) and hospital clinicians also have the discretion to add individual patients to the list based on careful, clinical assessments of each individual’s needs. This will require expert clinical judgement on a patient-by-patient basis. GPs and hospital specialists have been provided with guidance to support these decisions.

There are currently no plans to extend the list of people categorised as vulnerable to include newborn babies as there is no evidence that babies are any more susceptible to, or have worse outcomes from contracting COVID-19.