Vaccination: Waste Disposal
(asked on 2nd December 2024) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of vaccine doses that are thrown away due to reaching their expiry date before they could be used.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) manages the central storage and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines for the United Kingdom’s programme. In their published accounts for the financial year 2022/23, the figure was £143.280 million. The following table shows a summary of vaccine related losses for the latest published account:
Description | Amount |
Constructive loss as a result of COVID-19 vaccine expiry due to lower-than-expected use of vaccines compared to those planned for during purchasing. | £127,560,000 |
Constructive loss as a result of lower-than-expected consumption of flu vaccine resulting in the date expiry of this vaccine. | £15,720,000 |
Total | £143,280,000 |
Source: pages 124 to 125 of the UKHSA’s Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, which is available at the following link:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65c0cf5763a23d000dc821bb/UKHSA-Annual-Report-2022_23-printable_file-2.pdf
Further information regarding vaccine expiry will be published as part of the UKHSA’s Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24.