Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research is being carried out to improve the level of antibodies in clinically extremely vulnerable people who have had two doses of the covid-19 vaccine but, as a result of their condition or medication, might be expected to respond poorly to the vaccination.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is providing £4 million towards the OCTAVE study to examine the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in clinically at-risk groups, including patients with certain immunosuppressed conditions. UKRI has allocated a further £3 million towards a research call to support projects examining the nature and quality of COVID-19 vaccine responses and the mechanisms of immune failure that lead to either COVID-19 re-infection or vaccine breakthrough. This call is now closed and the results will be announced in due course.