Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the capacity of AstraZeneca to deliver sufficient quantities of its covid-19 vaccine to meet the Government target of offering a first vaccine to everyone in the most vulnerable groups by the middle of February 2021.

The Government has procured 100 million doses of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca/ vaccine.

The UK was the first country in the world to start a vaccination programme using this vaccine. Due to our swift and decisive action there has been a regular and steady supply of vaccine doses arriving in the UK since early December 2020.

We remain in close contact with all our vaccine suppliers. The UK’s vaccine supply and scheduled deliveries will fully support vaccination of priority cohorts 1 to 4, as advised by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. We are on track to offer a first vaccine to every person in these cohorts by 15 February 2021.

As of 4 February 2021, nearly 10.5 million people across the UK have been vaccinated with the first dose of the vaccine. The UK COVID-19 Vaccines Delivery Plan sets out how the Government will work with the NHS, devolved administrations, local councils, and the Armed Forces to deliver the largest vaccination programme in British history.