Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to be able to assess whether the delay between doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine will have an effect on immunosuppressed people.

The number of individuals with immunosuppression is small relative to the wider population therefore accruing enough data to estimate vaccine effectiveness in specific subgroups will take time. Vaccine effectiveness assessments are reported regularly by Public Health England to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to inform vaccine policy recommendations. This will include assessment of vaccine effectiveness in immunocompromised individuals using general practice electronic health record data.

Once sufficient evidence becomes available the JCVI will consider options for a protection strategy for immunosuppressed individuals, including whether any specific vaccine or schedule is preferred in this population.