Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, further to the oral contribution of the Prime Minister on 8 December 2021, Official Report, col 379, what discussions he has had with (a) MRHA and (b) JCVI on the 15 minute wait after receiving covid-19 vaccinations.
Following advice from the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s Commission on Human Medicines, we have agreed to temporarily suspend the 15 minute wait following mRNA COVID-19 vaccinations. The suspension is designed to facilitate the COVID-19 vaccination programme, including booster doses, in response to the Omicron variant. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is aware of this new advice and the nature of the temporary suspension that has been agreed. The temporary suspension is in operation in England from 16 December 2021, following necessary amendments to system guidance and protocols.