Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of declining immunity to COVID-19 in the population; and what steps they are taking to continue vaccination against COVID-19 in response to any such assessment.

The UK Health Security Agency regularly reviews data on vaccine effectiveness, including declining immunity to COVID-19. Recent data suggests that vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic disease with the Omicron variant is substantially lower than against the Delta variant, with rapid waning of immunity over time. However, protection against hospitalisation remains high, particularly after three doses. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) continues to review the data and will advise the Government if they observe indications in the data of changes that could be addressed by adjustments to the COVID-19 vaccination programme.

The COVID-19 vaccination programme has agreed three key priorities: continued access to first, second and booster or third doses; delivery of an autumn COVID-19 vaccination campaign if advised by the JCVI; and development of detailed contingency plans to rapidly increase capacity, if required. The National Health Service continues to campaign to encourage people to come forward for COVID-19 vaccinations, particularly targeting those sections of community where we know there has been low take up for example in pregnant women and some ethnic groups.