On 17 February 2021, the UK government's minister in charge of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, Nadhim Zahawi MP, stated in an interview with the BBC that it is "up to businesses to decide" whether to require staff to have been inoculated against the virus. In response, the Labour Party has warned that so-called "no jab, no job" contracts may leave workers exposed to unlawful discrimination and are calling on the government to provide clearer guidance on this issue.
On 16 February 2021, the government extended the definition of "clinically extremely vulnerable" in the English shielding guidance to include patients identified as being potentially at high risk by the COVID-19 Population Risk Assessment. The 1.7 million individuals falling into this category will be issued with a letter from their GP in the coming days which advises them to shield until 31 March 2021 (reflecting the fact that the shielding advice has been extended until this date for all clinically extremely vulnerable groups). Those who have not yet been vaccinated will be urgently prioritised.
The UK government has announced that it is now using the new COVID-19 Population Risk Assessment algorithm to help identify additional patients who are at potentially high risk of serious illness if they catch the virus. The algorithm, which is based on modelling developed by the University of Oxford, analyses a combination of risk factors (including age, sex, ethnicity, body mass index, specific health conditions and postcode) to assess which individuals may be especially vulnerable to COVID-19. This multi-faceted approach appears to address concerns about the adverse impact of various inequalities on pandemic outcomes which has previously been highlighted by government research.
The algorithm is believed to also form part of the government's ongoing vaccination roll-out, allowing those considered to be extremely vulnerable to be called forwards more quickly than they otherwise would be. Indeed, this approach promptly made the headlines this week when a 32 year old, apparently very healthy man was surprised to be invited for a vaccine: it transpired that his GP's medical records had mistakenly recorded his height as 6cm (instead of 6ft) which had led to the algorithm identifying his BMI as in excess of 28,000!
