Vaccines

This page will be regularly updated with vaccination guidance from the government that may impact housing associations, their residents and staff.

Working with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), we have sought to prioritise access to vaccinations for housing association staff and residents throughout the pandemic.

For example, following engagement between ourselves and DHSC, the definition of ‘frontline social care worker’ was changed to be inclusive of housing association staff working in supported and sheltered settings.

Update March 2023

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) have advised that those at higher risk of severe coronavirus should be offered a booster in Autumn 2023.

In March 2023, the government announced that those most vulnerable to serious illness arising from covid-19 infection would be offered a Spring booster.

Latest Guidance

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) have released their latest guidance on a Spring 2023 booster. This dose will be offered to:

• Adults aged 75 and over.
• Residents in care homes for older adults.
• Individuals aged five and over who are immunosuppressed.
• Individuals will be offered a booster vaccine around six months following their previous dose.

Operational details are yet to be announced by NHS England. It is expected that there will a further booster programme in Autumn, This page will be updated with any further guidance.

Consent

To meet the timescales for the Spring Booster programme, care homes should begin the consenting process of residents from 20 March 2023.

Obtaining consent from a patient is a legal requirement and standard NHS practice. Relevant consent forms in relation to care homes can be found on the gov.uk website.

In cases where individuals lack the capacity to consent, a ‘best interests’ decision should be made in line with the checklist in section 4 of the Mental Health Capacity Act. The decision maker should record their best interests decision.