Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the availability of formaldehyde free flu vaccinations in (a) Ellesmere Port and Neston and (b) England.

The flu vaccines being offered for the 2020/21 flu season do not include formaldehyde as an ingredient.

Formaldehyde is used during the manufacturing process of some inactivated flu vaccines. It is used to kill or inactivate the flu virus so it is possible that residual traces of it may remain in some flu vaccines.

Formaldehyde is not used in the production of the following vaccines currently used in the United Kingdom Influenza Immunisation Programme; the live attenuated influenza vaccine Fluenz Tetra used in the children’s flu programme and the cell-based quadrivalent influenza vaccine (QIVc), Flucelvax Tetra.