COVID-19 vaccination of prisoners: FOI release

Information requested

1. Any correspondence (including emails, attachments, typed or handwritten notes, letters, notes/records of phone calls, minutes of meetings, briefings or otherwise) (including emails, attachments, typed or handwritten notes, letters, notes/records of phone calls, minutes of meetings, briefings or otherwise) with the Scottish Prison Service regarding the vaccination of prisoners against COVID-19. Please limit correspondence from 1 December 2020 to the present date.

2. The current dates where the Scottish Government expects to vaccinate prisoners against COVID-19.

Response

In response to your request we are providing you with a partial release of the information you asked for. We have applied Section 38 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). This is an exemption relating to personal data. Therefore all redactions in the annex are applied under this section.

1. In the attached Annex, you will find our response to point 1 of your request - Scottish Government correspondence dated between 1 December 2020 and 1 February 2021 with the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) regarding the vaccination of prisoners. The names of officials who are not Senior Civil Servants have been redacted under Section 38 of FOISA.

2. The answer to your question in point 2 is that prisoners will be vaccinated in line with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) priority groups in the community. Further
information can be found here: https://www.nhsinform.scot/covid-19-vaccine/invitations-andappointments/who-will-be-offered-the-coronavirus-vaccine

In order to provide as much helpful information as possible, I have pasted below the relevant data on the priority groups as recommended by the JCVI.

JCVI PRIORITY RECOMMENDATION

• On 2 December the JCVI published its recommendation on priority groups for Covid vaccinations with the Pfizer vaccine based on the clinical evidence.
• The recommendation states that vaccinations should be prioritised in this order:

1) Residents in care homes for older adults and their carers

2) All those 80 years of age and over
Frontline health and social care workers

3) All those 75 years of age and over

4) All those 70 years of age and over
Clinically extremely vulnerable individuals

5) All those 65 years of age and over

6) All individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality

7) All those 60 years of age and over

8) All those 55 years of age and over

9) All those 50 years of age and over

About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI202100148353 - Annex A

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