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 20 March to Question 166115 on Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, what steps his Department has taken in response to safety concerns about Covid-19 vaccinations as a result of the 23 successful claims in respect of deaths recorded by Coroners as having been caused by a Covid-19 vaccination.

Vaccine safety remains at the forefront of the COVID-19 vaccine programme. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has a robust safety surveillance strategy in place for monitoring the safety of all COVID-19 vaccines approved in the United Kingdom. This includes closely considering all coroners' reports sent to MHRA that list vaccination as a possible contributing factor of death. Coroners' verdicts are part of the wide range of evidence continuously gathered and analysed by MHRA, including self-reporting tools such as the Yellow Card Reporting Scheme.

Should any information indicate a possible new safety concern, the system is well placed to rapidly and thoroughly investigate this, with advice for healthcare professionals and patients updated where appropriate.