Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to reinstate the Covid Medicines Delivery Unit to provide access to antiviral drugs for people with covid-19 infections who are clinically vulnerable.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for arranging access to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) recommended treatments, therefore it is not driven by the Department. It is up to ICBs to determine the best model of access for their eligible population.

Antiviral treatments for COVID-19 are now routinely available for National Health Service patients at highest risk of serious illness from COVID-19, in line with the approach to the rollout set out in the NICE’s guidance published last year.