I was pleased to receive assurances from the Health Secretary that the Government is working with the NHS and local authorities to ensure that everyone who is present in our community, regardless of status, has the opportunity to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. I know this news will be welcomed by constituents who have contacted me to raise concerns about this issue. It is important that this vaccine programme reaches everyone who lives here in order that we can protect the community as a whole. You can read the Health Secretary's answer in full below:
I commend my right hon. Friend’s decision to fund the local authorities of Harrow and Hillingdon, which serve my constituency, to reach out to people who may be reluctant to come forward and get their vaccine. In respect of those who are in our country with an uncertain immigration status, but for whom vaccination is vital for both humanitarian and medical reasons, will he consider a similar approach and fund local authorities, which know their communities best, to reach out to those people, to ensure that they are also part of this great British success story?
Yes. We are working with GPs, with community parts of the NHS and also with local authorities to do this. As my hon. Friend may have seen, the Home Office has stated that the most important thing is that we vaccinate everybody who is present here, whatever their status or paperwork.
