Recommendation 17

Decisions about who will be vaccinated were taken by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, as is the case with all vaccination programmes, based on advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.47 The Joint Committee identified nine priority groups for the first phase of vaccinations to maximise the effectiveness of the programme and prevent further deaths from COVID-19. These groups were predominantly based on age in light of evidence that this was the single greatest risk of mortality from COVID-19. When the groups were announced, the Joint Committee recommended that the second phase of the vaccination programme should focus on preventing further hospitalisation and acknowledged that vaccinating those at increased risk of exposure due to their occupation could also be a priority.48 In its written evidence to us, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics told us that it would be important that Governments were transparent about their prioritisation strategies for delivering vaccines and good communication about the values, evidence and criteria behind those decisions would be key.49 We also received written evidence from JKS Bioscience Limited, which told us that, as well as older people, the vaccine programme should prioritise: medical staff and care staff; school teachers and staff; University students, staff and researchers; and workers and consumers.50