Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February to Question 92799 on Coronavirus: Vaccination, what is the maximum period following death which meets the criterion of a person reported as having died shortly after vaccination; and whether the same criterion applies to (a) Astra Zeneca, (b) Moderna and (c) Pfizer covid-19 vaccines.

There is no maximum period of time following a fatal suspected adverse event after exposure to a medicinal product which determines whether such a report is included in the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) listings of fatal events. However, particularly in the case of products with acute or one-off exposure, such as vaccines, the majority of deaths reported to the MHRA occurred within days or weeks following vaccination. In the MHRA’s weekly summary of adverse drug reaction reporting for COVID-19 vaccines, this is described as ‘shortly after vaccination’. The same approach applies for all vaccines used in the United Kingdom programme.