A UK Government spokesperson said:
“The independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation
has today published its interim advice for phase two of the
COVID-19 vaccination programme, setting out that the most
effective way to minimise hospitalisations and deaths is to
continue to prioritise people by age. This is because age is
assessed to be the strongest factor linked to mortality,
morbidity and hospitalisations, and because the speed of delivery
is crucial as we provide more people with protection from
COVID-19.
“All four parts of the UK will follow the recommended approach,
subject to the final advice given by the independent expert
committee. The UK Government remains on course to meet its target
to offer a vaccine to all those in the phase one priority groups
by mid-April, and all adults by the end of July.”
Background
- The JCVI are the independent clinical and scientific experts
who advise Government on which vaccine/s the UK should use and
provide advice on prioritisation at a population level.
- The UK-wide agreement to follow the prioritisation advice of
the JCVI for phase one of the vaccine deployment programme has
allowed a consistent roll out of vaccines across the UK and
seamless coordination between England, Northern Ireland, Scotland
and Wales. As of yesterday, 18,691,835 people have received a
vaccination across the UK.
- The governments’ objective for the next phase of vaccine
rollout is to further reduce mortality, morbidity and
hospitalisations
- The interim advice from the JCVI is that the best way to
achieve this objective is to continue prioritising people for
vaccinations by age, as this will enable the most rapid
deployment across the population.
- The final advice from the JCVI will be published in due
course.
