MSPs are urging the Scottish government to rethink its approach to vaccinating people with learning disabilities after GPs in England were given discretion to bring forward jabs.

A cross-party group has written to the Health Secretary calling for rapid changes to ensure people in this high-risk group are not overlooked.

They say everyone with a learning disability – instead of only those who have a condition classed as “severe” – should be vaccinated as part of priority group 6, in line with the approach being taken by NHS England, “as a matter of urgency”.

Scots with learning disabilities were more than three times more likely to die with covid-19 than the rest of the population during the first wave of the pandemic, researchers have found.

But data from England has revealed death rates up to six times higher than the general population – and 30 times higher among 18-to-34-year-olds with learning disabilities.

One mum who had been unable to get answers from the NHS or her GP about when her 33-year-old son would receive his vaccine told healthandcare.scot earlier this month there was “huge anxiety” among families.

Speaking today, the First Minister said the Chief Medical Officer had been asked to look again at the clinical advice.

Under the programme set out by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, people with Down’s syndrome were vaccinated in group 4, while those with a “severe” learning disability would get their jab in group 6 alongside under-65s with an underlying health condition.

However there are concerns that medical records do not “straightforwardly” reflect the criteria used by JCVI, leading to concerns this group could be missed out.

The convener of the Scottish Parliament’s cross-party group on learning disability, Jackie Baillie, and vice-convener Joan McAlpine, have written to the Health Secretary saying they have “collective and significant concern about the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on the population of people in Scotland who have a learning disability.’

The group sets out a raft of concerns on vaccinations, the inappropriate use of Do Not Resuscitate Orders and the provision of care and support.

MSPs remain concerned about the “apparently invisibility” of people with learning disabilities in public health data, despite a 2013 government pledge to remedy this.

Research showing Scots in this group were three times more likely to die with covid-19 was published this month, eleven months after the start of the pandemic.

‘Members are frustrated at the length of time it took to produce a high-level summary of the impact of covid-19 on people who have a learning disability in Scotland,’ the letter states.

‘In the current context however, this delay has meant that the pandemic has continued into this winter without the opportunity to apply learning to the vaccination programme and public health advice for this population.’

Commenting, Jackie Baillie said: “Time and time again, those living with learning disabilities have been forgotten during this pandemic.

“We have seen the human rights of those with learning disabilities disregarded repeatedly, and still we are hearing that many with learning disabilities are struggling to access vaccination.

“Those with learning disabilities are three times more likely to die from covid-19 than others. This is unacceptable and has undoubtedly been affected by the decisions taken that fail to recognise their human rights.

“We must ensure that this never happens again, and action must be taken now to protect the those with learning disabilities. It’s time for the Health Secretary to act to keep these people safe.”

Vice Convener and SNP MSP Joan McAlpine said: “The vaccine programme is going well but it is very important that people with learning disabilities are not left behind, especially with the growing evidence of much higher mortality.

“The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation say it is possible to apply clinical discretion where people are vulnerable which is presumably why the NHS in England has written to GPs encouraging them to vaccinate all patients with a learning disability. I hope we can do this in Scotland too.”

At today’s government daily briefing, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she recognised the importance of the issue of vaccination to people with learning disabilities and their families, but the clinical advice she was receiving suggested most are in priority vaccination groups:

“Most people with learning disabilities – perhaps not all, I recognise that, will be included in either the JCVI group 4, who have already been offered vaccination, or the JCVI group 6 which, as of next week, is about to be invited for vaccinations.

“So, most people with learning disabilities in one or other of these groups will either have been vaccinated or will very soon be vaccinated.”

However, the First Minister pledged to ask Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer to look again at the clinical advice in the light of suggestions that all people with a learning disability are being prioritised for vaccination in some parts of the UK.

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