Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the evidential basis and data which support the move away from the guidance of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to use the list of people who are already eligible for a free flu vaccine to determine those who should be offered a covid-19 booster vaccine.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) initially considered the use of flu clinical risk groups as a potential way to identify and prioritise individuals eligible for the COVID-19 booster programme in its interim advice of 30 June 2021. However, on 14 September 2021, the JCVI’s final advice recommended that the prioritisation of those eligible for the booster campaign should align with phase one of the COVID-19 vaccination programme to ensure the most effective continuous protection. The Government accepted this advice.