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<p>The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.</p><p>A
response to the Noble Peer’s Parliamentary Question of 29 March is attached in the
answer.</p><p>The Rt Hon. the Lord Mendelsohn</p><p>House of Lords</p><p>London</p><p>SW1A
0PW</p><p>31 March 2023</p><p>Dear Lord Mendelsohn,</p><p>As National Statistician
and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary
Question asking why COVID-19 has been placed in the same Office for National Statistics
reporting group as influenza; and, given that decision, why the provision of COVID-19
vaccinations is being treated differently to the provision of influenza vaccinations
(HL7017).</p><p>In answering this Parliamentary Question, we have answered under the
assumption that you are referring to our <em>Influenza and other respiratory viruses
pilot study, Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey, UK: October 2022 to February
2023</em> [1] release of 27 March 2023.</p><p>The Covid-19 Infection Survey published
its final release on 24 March 2023 as the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) works
to confirm its approach to infection surveillance. The Office for National Statistics
(ONS) plans to work with existing survey participants to continue gathering valuable
insight into the experiences of COVID-19, long-COVID and other respiratory infections.
In the immediate future this will gather data such as symptoms that people are experiencing
but will not include testing for infectious diseases.</p><p>From October 2022 to February
2023, the ONS used a small sample from the Covid-19 Infection Survey to pilot the
feasibility of testing participants for other respiratory infections and its report
was published on 27 March 2023. This pilot study separately reported experimental
results on the number of participants who tested positive for influenza and Respiratory
Syncytial Virus (RSV) while the latest Covid-19 infection results were reported in
the regular statistical bulletin (released on Fridays at noon) [2].</p><p>The ONS
has announced no plans on the future reporting of data on respiratory infections.
In terms of the provision of COVID-19 vaccinations, this would fall under the remit
of the UKHSA who are responsible for vaccination policy in the UK.</p><p>Yours sincerely,</p><p>Professor
Sir Ian Diamond</p><p> </p><p>[1] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies/articles/influenzaandotherrespiratoryvirusespilotstudycoronaviruscovid19infectionsurveyuk/october2022tofebruary2023</p><p>[2]
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveypilot/24march2023</p><p>
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