Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government has made an assessment of the impact of delaying the procurement of covid-19 treatment Evusheld on people who are immunocompromised; and if he will review the decision not to procure Evusheld for use in treatment of vulnerable people during winter 2022-23.

Based on the evidence and after careful analysis and consideration, the UK Government has decided not to procure Evusheld for prevention through emergency routes at this time. However, the UK Government has referred Evusheld to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for evaluation, which provides evidence-based, rigorous evaluation of the clinical and cost effectiveness of medicines for use in the NHS. This is a decision based on independent clinical advice by RAPID C-19 (a multi-agency group) and a UK National Expert Policy Working Group and reflecting the epidemiological context and wider policies in our pandemic response and recovery. RAPID C-19 considered that there remained uncertainty that Evusheld would prevent symptomatic COVID-19 caused by current Omicron variants in the vulnerable population who would potentially be eligible. There are no current plans for any further review of the decision. RAPID C-19 will continue to keep Evusheld (and other COVID-19 treatments) under active review.