Coronavirus: Kidney Diseases

Department of Health and Social Care written question – answered at on 11 January 2021.

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Photo of Alex Norris Alex Norris Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect on the risk of covid-19 transmission for patients with in-centre haemodialysis of those patients being in priority group four for the covid-19 vaccine.

Photo of Alex Norris Alex Norris Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of moving patients with in-centre haemodialysis higher up the priority list for the covid-19 vaccine.

Photo of Nadhim Zahawi Nadhim Zahawi Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy), The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care

Of the factors associated with COVID-19 mortality, age is the most strongly associated factor and applies across all other risk factors, including underlying health conditions. There is currently no conclusive evidence to indicate whether COVID-19 vaccines will have an impact on transmission.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has reviewed data on the risk of mortality from COVID-19 in-patients receiving in-centre haemodialysis (ICHD). In the ICHD cohort, 30% of all COVID-19 deaths up to 30 June 2020 occurred in persons aged over 80 years old. Those aged over 80 had a mortality risk of about 4.2 times more than those aged 18 to 59 years. Further information is available here: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0241263

The JCVI has recognised that persons on ICHD attend healthcare facilities regularly, and that this is an opportunity for vaccination. The JCVI therefore agreed that implementation teams should take advantage of this setting to vaccinate eligible individuals.

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