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<p>Eligible unpaid carers have been invited for vaccination as a part of cohort six
of phase one of the COVID-19 vaccination programme. This follows the advice the Joint
Committee on Immunisation and Vaccination (JCVI).</p><p>There is no distinction in
NHS England and NHS Improvement’s standard operations procedure (SOP) between eligibility
of those who are and are not, in receipt of carers allowance. The SOP is available
at the following link:</p><p><a href="http://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2021/03/C1182-sop-covid-19-vaccine-deployment-programme-unpaid-carers-jcvi-priority-cohort-6.pdf"
target="_blank">www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2021/03/C1182-sop-covid-19-vaccine-deployment-programme-unpaid-carers-jcvi-priority-cohort-6.pdf</a></p><p>The
SOP sets out a number of existing sources used by the National Health Service to identify
unpaid carers as follows:</p><p>- Those in receipt of or entitled to a carer’s allowance;</p><p>-
Those known to general practitioners who have a ‘carer’s flag’ on their primary care
record;</p><p>- Those known to local authorities who are in receipt of support following
a carer’s assessment; and</p><p>- Those known to local carers organisations to be
actively receiving care and support.</p><p>The JCVI’s definition of an unpaid carer
has been clarified in Public Health England’s Green Book for COVID-19 as “carers who
are eligible for carer’s allowance, or those who are the sole or primary carer of
an elderly or disabled person who is at increased risk of COVID-19 mortality and therefore
clinically vulnerable”.</p>
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