Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he will take to increase the take-up of the covid-19 vaccine in schools in York.

Vaccinations are the best way to protect people from COVID-19. As of 11 December 2021, 44.7% of 12 to 15 year olds, 61% of 16 to 17 year olds and 68.4% of 18 to 24 year olds in England received a first dose of the vaccine. As of 11 December, 59.7% of 18 to 24 year olds in England have received a second dose. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has also announced on 29 November that young people aged 12 to 15 in England will be offered a second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination, following advice from Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/jcvi-advice-on-covid-19-booster-vaccines-for-those-aged-18-to-39-and-a-second-dose-for-ages-12-to-15.

Throughout autumn, thousands of schools have held vaccination clinics and over 1.25 million young people have received a vaccination either in school or via the out of school offer. Healthy 12 to 15 year olds can receive their first COVID-19 vaccination in their school or out of school, such as through vaccination centres. The two offers run in parallel. 16 and 17 year olds are eligible for two doses of the COVID-19 vaccination. They will be able to access both doses through the adult vaccination system. They can access the first vaccination at GP surgeries, vaccination centres via the national booking system and at some walk in COVID-19 vaccination sites.

To accelerate the COVID-19 programme in schools, the NHS has bolstered the in-school offer to make it more efficient and increase the scale and pace of delivery, as well as target communications to parents, young people, and the public to improve uptake and increase overall confidence in the programme. We continue to work on increasing uptake through repeat offers. To support schools, and based on feedback we gathered we have published new ‘how to’ guides, available here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1cT6adcSVsLer0kvcSuI4QcBYdlmdgb5x. This includes useful information and resources for schools, including a template letter that can be used to communicate with parents. The COVID-19 vaccination guidance and leaflets for parents, children and young people are being translated by Public Health England (PHE). The accessible versions include braille, British Sign Language (BSL), and web and print versions in 27 languages.

To ensure even more young people can get the vaccine as quickly as possible the national booking system is open for vaccination bookings for young people.