Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of administering the covid-19 vaccine with aspiration.

No specific assessment has been made. The UK Health Security Agency’s guidance on immunisation techniques states that it is not necessary to aspirate the syringe after the needle is introduced into the muscle as there are no large blood vessels at the recommended injection sites. This is also consistent with the Summary of Product Characteristics for the COVID-19 vaccines approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. As with all recommendations for vaccine administration, this recommendation is kept under review in line with the latest available evidence.