Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, following covid-19 restrictions announced on 8 December 2021, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the existing guidance for clinically vulnerable people.

Those previously considered as clinically extremely vulnerable are advised to follow the current national guidance, while considering further precautions to reduce their exposure to COVID-19. For some people with a reduced immune response who may be at higher risk, it is recommended they seek individual advice from their medical specialists.

Severely immunosuppressed individuals who have completed their primary course of three doses of the vaccine should be offered a booster dose with a minimum of three months between the third primary and booster dose. Those who have not yet received their third dose may now be given the third dose. A further booster dose can be given in three months, in line with the clinical advice on optimal timing.

Immunocompromised patients are a priority for therapeutics, including neutralising monoclonal antibodies. On 17 September, Ronapreve was made available to hospitalised patients through an interim National Health Service clinical policy. A new interim clinical policy will give access to the most vulnerable non-hospitalised patients in the community with early-stage disease from 16 December, which will include the immunocompromised and those patients at higher risk of poorer COVID-19 outcomes. The current supply of Ronapreve is limited globally, therefore the clinical policy prioritises the most vulnerable patients for whom this treatment will provide the most benefit, supported by clinical evidence.