Coronavirus: Vaccination

(asked on 22nd July 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the merits of funding research into the efficacy of covid-19 vaccines and treatment options for people with blood cancer and blood disorders.


Answered by
Jo Churchill Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 6th September 2021

While Government-funded therapeutics research is not specifically focused on people with blood cancer or blood disorders, many of these patients are immunocompromised, which is a priority cohort for research into therapeutic and prophylaxis treatments such as monoclonal antibody therapies, novel antivirals, and repurposed compounds.

As part of the COVID-19 Immunity National Core Study, UK Research and Innovation is providing £4 million towards the OCTAVE study. The OCTAVE study will examine the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in clinically at-risk groups. This includes vaccine responses in patients with certain immunosuppressed conditions, such as blood cancer and blood disorders.

Reticulating Splines