Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 10
10
Rejected
The vaccine programme still has some issues to address.
Recommendation
The vaccine programme still has some issues to address. In England, 2.98 million adults were still unvaccinated at the end of May 2022. Analysis by UKHSA has confirmed that full and booster vaccination reduces the risk of someone falling seriously ill, needing to go to hospital, or dying because of COVID-19.23 Consequently these people are at 14 RCP0006 Note dated March 2022 from Royal College of Nursing point 3.2 15 Committee of Public Accounts, Government preparedness for the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons for government on risk, Forty-Sixth Report of Session 2021–22, HC 952, 23 March 2022, page 1, 7 16 Qq 29, 30 17 Qq 29, 48 18 RCP0006 Note dated March 2022 from Royal College of Nursing point 3.3 19 Q 41 20 DHSC, Joint statement from the UK government, CEPI, IFPMA, ABPI, BIA, BIO and DCVMN on delivering the 100 day mission, 8 March 2022. 21 Qq 49–52 22 Q 39, 48 23 UKHSA’s report, COVID-19 vaccine surveillance report: week 14, 7 April 2022 12 The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine programme in England greater risk of coming to harm than if they had been vaccinated. Additionally, a further 1.5 million people had only had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while uptake of first boosters, for which all adults are eligible, stood at 73% (32.6 million people).24
Government Response Summary
The government disagrees with the recommendation to set a challenge to reduce the number of unvaccinated adults to 2.5 million and achieve 80% booster uptake, arguing it is moving away from target-based approaches.
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
1. PAC conclusion: Nearly 3 million adults in England remain unvaccinated and are therefore at greater risk of becoming hospitalised or dying because of COVID-19 than if they were vaccinated. 2 1: PAC recommendation: Both NHS England and its local partners, should redouble efforts to reach the unvaccinated and those not fully vaccinated. We recommend that the COVID-19 vaccine programme set itself a challenge to reduce the overall number of adults who are unvaccinated to 2.5 million, and achieve an 80% uptake for (first) boosters among adults, within four months of announcing the challenge. 1.1 The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation. 1.2 NHS England (NHSE) and its local partners continue to focus on reaching out to and maintaining an offer of COVID-19 vaccination to the unvaccinated and the not fully vaccinated. Throughout the lifetime of the programme however, government has adopted an approach that it would learn from past immunisation programmes and move away from uptake targets and focus its efforts on making a credible offer to the population, providing accurate information, using trusted voices to help promote uptake and engaging with people at a local level. This principle will continue to be adopted for the COVID-19 vaccine programme going forward. 1.3 A convenient offer – including the use of walk-in and mobile vaccination clinics to enable easy access - continues to be an important way in which the government is working hard to reach people who are traditionally underserved and who remain unvaccinated for COVID-19. 1.4 Through these activities, there were considerable reductions in the unvaccinated during the spring booster campaign. As of the week ending 4 September 2022, using Office for National Statistics (ONS) population estimates, 2.9 million individuals remain unvaccinated in England. 1.5 An increase has been seen in booster dose uptake over the same period. As of 9 September 2022, 82.2% of adults eligible for a first booster/third dose had received their first booster/third dose. NHSE expects that both figures will continue to improve during the 2022 autumn/winter campaign, and it will continue to monitor progress against plans.