Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the eligibility criteria for individuals to be considered for (a) Covid and (b) Flu vaccinations in Surrey Heath constituency.

The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 and flu through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). Eligibility for vaccination programmes informed by JCVI advice is set at a national level. The primary aim of the vaccination programmes remains the prevention of serious illness, resulting in hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19 and flu.

The JCVI has advised that population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity following recovery from infection and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant, with rates of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 having reduced significantly since COVID-19 first emerged.

The focus of the JCVI advised programme has therefore moved towards targeted vaccination of the two groups who continue to be at higher risk of serious disease, including mortality. These are the oldest adults and individuals who are immunosuppressed.

The Government has accepted the JCVI advice for autumn 2025 and in line with the advice, a COVID-19 vaccination is being offered to the following groups in autumn 2025:

- adults aged 75 years old and over;

- residents in care homes for older adults; and

- individuals aged six months and over who are immunosuppressed.

Flu is a recurring pressure that the National Health Service faces every winter. There is particular risk of severe illness for older people, the very young, pregnant people, and those with certain underlying health conditions. In line with the JCVI’s advice, those eligible to receive a free flu vaccine on the NHS this autumn are those who:

- are children aged two or three years old on 31 August 2025;

- are primary school aged children, from Reception to Year 6;

- are secondary school aged children, from Year 7 to Year 11;

- are children in clinical risk groups aged from six months to less than 18 years old;

- are aged 65 years old or over, including those who will be 65 years old by 31 March 2026;

- have certain long-term health conditions;

- are pregnant;

- live in a care home;

- are the main carer for an older or disabled person, or receive a carer's allowance;

- live with someone who has a weakened immune system;

- are frontline workers in a social care setting without an employer led occupational health scheme, including those working for a registered residential care or nursing home, registered domiciliary care providers, voluntary managed hospice providers, and those that are employed by those who receive direct payments, for personal budgets, or Personal Health budgets, such as personal assistants; and

- frontline health and social care workers, who can access the flu vaccine through their employer. There are circumstances where frontline staff, employed by specific social care providers without access to employer led occupational health schemes, see cohort eligibility above, can access the vaccine through the NHS free of charge.

As with other United Kingdom vaccination programmes, the JCVI’s advice on eligibility for both of these programmes carefully considered the evidence on the risk of illness, serious disease, or death as a consequence of infection, in specific groups, as well as a cost-effectiveness analysis. The JCVI keeps their advice under review.