Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people in the UK are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed and classified as (1) severely clinically extremely vulnerable, and (2) clinically extremely vulnerable excluding those who are severely clinically extremely vulnerable.

The success of the COVID-19 vaccination programme has meant that shielding and identifying people as clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) are no longer necessary. This is because the majority of those previously considered to be CEV will benefit from the COVID-19 vaccine. However, there remains a smaller number of people who, in spite of vaccination, are at higher risk of serious illness from COVID-19. This is due to a weakened immune system or specific other medical condition, which means they require enhanced protections such as those offered by antivirals and therapeutics, additional vaccinations and potentially other non-clinical interventions.

Within this smaller group, approximately 1.3 million people have been identified as potentially eligible for Antivirals, and Neutralising Monoclonal Antibodies, as non-hospitalised treatments, and approximately 0.5 million people in England have been identified as severely immunosuppressed and therefore eligible for a third primary COVID-19 vaccine dose.