Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including carers in the eligibility criteria for the Spring 2024 Covid Vaccination Programme.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Government remains committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). On 7 February 2024, the JCVI published further advice on the United Kingdom’s COVID-19 vaccination programme. The JCVI advice is that a COVID-19 vaccine should be offered in spring 2024 to those at greatest risk of serious disease, and who are therefore most likely to benefit from vaccination. Those eligible are: adults aged 75 years old and over; residents in a care home for older adults; and individuals aged six months old and over who are immunosuppressed, as defined in chapter 14a of the UK Health Security Agency Green Book. The JCVI’s advice for spring 2024, including the approach to eligibility, is available via the following link:
The Government has accepted this advice, and the spring 2024 COVID-19 vaccination programme is now in progress. The spring programme is targeted to those at highest risk of serious outcomes from COVID-19. Whilst carers as a group are therefore not recommended for vaccination in this programme, any carer who falls within one of the above cohorts will be eligible. Everyone who is eligible is encouraged to take up the offer of spring COVID-19 vaccination.
Jan. 29 2024
Source Page: Vaccination rate targets in Scotland and safety issues: FOI reviewFound: Vaccination rate targets in Scotland and safety issues: FOI review
Mentions:
1: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (XB - Life peer) that mothers are given options, which maximise convenience, of places to go and times when they could take - Speech Link
2: Lord Markham (Con - Life peer) It has to make sense to take more measures that are easy for people, including maybe less skilled people - Speech Link
3: Lord Markham (Con - Life peer) It is about the outreach groups and, particularly, the catch-up programmes. - Speech Link
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2023 to Question 395 on Coronavirus: Vaccination, what steps she is taking to implement the advice of the JCVI on the rollout of the autumn 2023 booster programme to people who are immunocompromised.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
As recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the autumn 2023 COVID-19 vaccination programme includes all those aged between six months and 64 years old in a clinical risk group, as defined in tables 3 and 4 of the COVID-19 chapter of the Green Book. This includes those with immunosuppression.
We continue to work with NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to improve immunosuppressed uptake nationally, by understanding drivers of hesitancy, improving the quality of our published data, ensuring it is easy and convenient book and access vaccinations, and by continuing a variety of campaign activities throughout the winter including UKHSA’s ‘get winter strong’ campaign. This was launched on 1 November 2023 and encourages those eligible, specifically the clinically most vulnerable, who have not yet come forward for the flu and COVID-19 vaccines to do so.
NHS England has produced and shared a range of targeted communications materials encouraging people who are immunosuppressed to take up their offer of a COVID-19 booster vaccine, including posters, display screen visuals and social media cards. There are also materials to raise awareness that those who are a household contact of an immunosuppressed person are also eligible for vaccination. These materials have been translated into 28 languages to reach people from a wide range of communities through their native languages and have helped general practices, vaccination centres, pharmacies, and other sites to promote COVID-19 and flu vaccination this autumn/winter.
The Government’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty, also wrote to the main charities representing the clinically most vulnerable patient cohorts, to publicise this autumn’s campaign, and to enable them to signpost the offer to their patient communities.
The autumn campaign remains open and all those who are eligible but who have not yet come forward are encouraged to take up their vaccination.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help increase uptake of the shingles vaccine by people aged over 65 in Warrington.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has recommended that those who are eligible for the shingles vaccine should change, to allow individuals to be protected at an earlier age, particularly those that have a weakened immune system. Based on the evidence, they recognised that there may be more clinical benefit from starting shingles vaccinations at a lower age, with modelling indicating that a greater number of cases of shingles would be prevented with vaccination at 60 years old for immunocompetent individuals, and 50 years old for immunosuppressed individuals. The committee advised that the programme should be implemented in stages, starting with those that are over 50 years old with a weakened immune system and those turning 65 and 70 years old, then eventually moving down to those turning 60 years old. This is a similar pattern to the roll out of the shingles vaccine from 2013. This is why the vaccine offer has been expanded to all those turning 65 and 70 years old and all those over 50 years old with a weakened immune system, from 1 September 2023. The programme began on 1 September 2023 and will run until 31 August 2028, offering the vaccine to people as they turn 65 and 70 years old, until the offer has been made to all those aged 65 to 70 years old. It will then expand to offering the vaccine to all those that are turning 60 and 65 years old, from 1 September 2028.
The shingles vaccine is available through general practice (GP) surgeries in primary care, and GPs are required to identify and put in place a call or recall arrangement to offer the shingles vaccination to eligible patients. All eligible patients are contacted by their GP surgery to invite them for vaccination. The GP will then follow up with letters or with calls and text messages, to encourage eligible people that have not come forward to take up the offer.
There is a wide range of public facing information to help increase uptake of the shingles vaccine, and to publicise the programme in GP surgeries and online, including display bunting, leaflets, and posters. GPs are also adding messages regarding shingles to their practice websites, prescription counterfoils, and social media banners. Public facing information regarding the shingles vaccination programme includes translations into over 20 different languages including braille, audio, large print, and British Sign Language. Information for healthcare professionals, including GP toolkits for improving uptake of shingles vaccination, has also been produced and published by local immunisation commissioning teams.
Dec. 09 2009
Source Page: Dear colleague letter dated 13/08/2009 from Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer regarding the H1N1 swine flu vaccintation programme for 2009/2010/ 2 p.Found: programme 2009-2010 Early details of the H1N1 swine flu vaccination strategy were circulated to PCTs
Nov. 04 2009
Source Page: Dear colleague letter dated 15/11/2009 from Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer, regarding swine flu vaccination programme 2009-2010. 11 p.Found: Dear colleague letter dated 15/11/2009 from Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer, regarding swine flu vaccination
May. 02 2024
Source Page: Flu & COVID-19 Vaccination Programme (FVCV) 2023-24 Equality Impact AssessmentFound: Flu & COVID-19 Vaccination Programme (FVCV) 2023-24 Equality Impact Assessment
Mentions:
1: Baroness Merron (Lab - Life peer) Government should have read the warning signs and acted sooner to tackle vaccine hesitancy and low take-up - Speech Link
2: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bshp - Bishops) My Lords, on the relatively low take-up in minority communities, either the message is not getting through - Speech Link
3: Lord Evans of Rainow (Con - Life peer) There is no reason why anybody in this country should not take up this very safe vaccine; as he says, - Speech Link
4: Lord Evans of Rainow (Con - Life peer) There is misinformation saying that not to take this vaccination is a safe thing to do. - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Lord Allan of Hallam (LD - Life peer) deliver all the flu vaccines we want to deliver without the relaxed model that the pandemic opened up - Speech Link
2: Baroness Merron (Lab - Life peer) The important matters of vaccine take-up, hesitancy and misinformation have of course come to the fore - Speech Link
3: Lord Evans of Rainow (Con - Life peer) That is the big lesson we can take from Covid.This was introduced after the initial planning and preparation - Speech Link