Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of the updated 2024-2025 Nuvaxovid™ COVID-19 Vaccine.

All vaccines in the United Kingdom must be authorised by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) before they can be placed on the UK market. The MHRA assesses all applications for authorisations of vaccines promptly, to ensure their safety, quality, and efficacy.

The updated 2024-2025 Nuvaxovid COVID-19 Vaccine has not been authorised by the MHRA. We are unable to confirm whether the MHRA has or has not received an application for Novavax's updated 2024-2025 Nuvaxovid COVID-19 Vaccine, as this information is considered commercially sensitive.

Pharmaceutical companies can decide to make information regarding the status of their Marketing Authorisation Applications publicly available, and the MHRA advocates that companies publish information on medicines in their pipelines, where and when it is reasonable to do so.