Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the report of the British Society for Immunology for studies on the efficacy of the Pfizer/BioNTech covid-19 vaccine after altering the dosing interval of that vaccine.

The British Society for Immunology report provides an expert review of current research on immunity and COVID-19 and recommends research to add to our knowledge about the immune system’s response. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and UK Research and Innovation are jointly funding the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium, which will address key research themes on immunity to COVID-19.

In addition, the NIHR has contracted the National Immunisation Schedule Evaluation Consortium to gather immunological evidence on 28 day and 12 week dosing intervals for the Oxford University/AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines. Public Health England is also monitoring the effectiveness of vaccines on disease, infection and transmission including the impact of dosing intervals on effectiveness.