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 implications for his policies of the study published on 11 March 2021 by Kings College London and the Crick Institute on vaccine efficacy among people with cancer.

Early findings from the King’s College London and the Francis Crick Institute study, which seeks to measure the immune response generated by the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at three and five weeks post vaccination, indicated a lower antibody response in people with certain types of cancer.

The findings of the study, which has not yet been published or peer-reviewed, should be used cautiously. They are indicative and do not provide suitable data to infer directly the level of clinical protection.

The independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which advises the Government on vaccine use and prioritisation, regularly reviews data and evidence on vaccine efficacy and effectiveness.