The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advises that the first priorities for the current COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of COVID-19 mortality and the protection of health and social care staff and systems.
Secondary priorities could include vaccination of those at increased risk of hospitalisation and at increased risk of exposure, and to maintain resilience in essential public services
The independent report sets out a framework for refining future advice on a national COVID-19 vaccination strategy.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is authorised in those aged 16 years and over.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is only authorised for use in those aged 18 years and over.
Annex A describes how prioritising means unequal access and thus has implications for health inequalities, which presents both opportunities and risks.
The local VCSE sector may find the report of interest to help discussions with the local communities they support.
The report can be accessed here.