Coronavirus: Disease Control

(asked on 25th October 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to help protect people who are immunocompromised against the effects of covid-19 over winter 2021-22.


Answered by
Maggie Throup Portrait
Maggie Throup
This question was answered on 3rd November 2021

On 1 September 2021, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advised that individuals aged 12 years old and over with severe immunosuppression at the time of their first or second COVID-19 vaccination should be offered a third primary dose. Severely immunosuppressed individuals may not have developed a full immune response to the primary vaccination, therefore the third primary dose gives a similar level of protection as those without a weakened immune system and has received two doses.

The National Health Service is writing to patients who may be eligible for a third primary dose due to severe immunosuppression. Severely immunosuppressed individuals may become eligible for a booster dose after their third primary dose, pending further advice from the JCVI.

Immunocompromised individuals are a priority cohort for research into therapeutic and prophylaxis treatments, such as monoclonal antibody therapies, novel antivirals and repurposed compounds. In August, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approved Ronapreve as the first neutralising monoclonal antibody combination product for use in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom.

Reticulating Splines