Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with public health officials on adverse side effects to the Covid-19 vaccine.

Each COVID-19 vaccine candidate is assessed by teams of scientists and clinicians on a case-by-case basis, and only authorised once it has met robust standards of effectiveness, safety, and quality set by the United Kingdom’s independent medicines’ regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

No medicine or vaccine is completely risk-free, but the MHRA continually monitors the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines through its comprehensive COVID-19 vaccine surveillance strategy to ensure that the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccines continue to outweigh the risks. Should any information indicate a possible new safety concern, the system will rapidly and thoroughly investigate, with advice for healthcare professionals and patients updated where appropriate.