Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the time taken to (a) license and (b) roll out vaccines; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of accelerating this process.

National licensing applications for vaccines follow the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) accelerated 150-day timetable for new medicines. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when there was a public health need for fast access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, these vaccines were licensed in the shortest time possible via rolling review, while maintaining the MHRA’s standards of safety, quality and effectiveness. Where there is a public health need for the accelerated roll out of a new vaccine, the MHRA will prioritise and expedite the assessment of the licensing application, using rolling review where applicable.

The Government is committed to supporting the timely delivery of our vaccination programmes to fully protect the public from vaccine preventable diseases. It is important that the implementation of any new programme is sufficiently planned and prepared for to ensure the stability of the programme. There is no set timeline for the implementation of a new programme or for changes to an existing programme. Instead, a holistic and systems approach is taken to support best possible public health protection.