AQW 23844/17-22

Ms Kellie Armstrong
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 07/10/2021
Answered On Date: 12/10/2021
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health to outline the evidence behind the decision not to use the free flu jab list to decide who receives a COVID-19 booster jab.

Answer:

From the outset of the vaccination programme in Northern Ireland, we have been guided by advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) have considered the options for and timing of a booster programme to revaccinate adults in order to reduce mortality, morbidity and hospitalisations from COVID- 19 over the 2021/22 winter period and through 2022, as well as to minimise the COVID-19 case infection rate and the chance of new variants emerging.

This advice was based on evidence from a number of sources, including UK data on the duration of vaccine-induced protection against severe COVID-19.