Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has been made in enabling the use of non-injectable covid-19 vaccines in the UK.

The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Alternative delivery methods for COVID-19 vaccines are currently in early clinical research stages and the NIHR and UK Research and Innovation have funded rapid research. This includes £580,000 awarded to Imperial College London for a study on the safety and lower airway immunogenicity of two candidate COVID-19 vaccines administered to the respiratory tract. The NIHR is currently providing infrastructure support to two phase one studies in this area. As the largest public funder of health and care research, the NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including alternative vaccine delivery methods.