Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist on 23 March (HL Deb col 958), what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of existing vaccines available in the UK in (1) protecting against, or (2) reducing the impact of, Omicron (a) B4, and (b) B5; what assessment they have made of the likely availability of the improved vaccine undergoing experimentation at (i) St George's Hospital, and (ii) beyond; and on what date the fourth COVID-19 booster vaccine will be available for general use across the UK this autumn.

Vaccine effectiveness against emerging variants is continuously assessed. There is currently insufficient data for a robust assessment of the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against mild or severe disease with the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants. However, preliminary analyses indicate that the vaccination status of cases infected with BA.4 and BA.5 is not significantly different to that of cases infected with BA.2, suggesting that protection conferred by the vaccines likely remains comparable.

Moderna and Pfizer are conducting clinical trials for Omicron-specific variant vaccines, with the intention of making these available in the second half of 2022.

The Government continues to be guided by the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on COVID-19 vaccinations. On 15 July 2022, the JCVI issued advice on an autumn booster vaccination programme. This advice states that a booster dose should be offered to residents in a care home for older adults and staff working in care homes for older adults; frontline health and social care workers; all adults aged 50 years old and over; persons aged five to 49 years old in a clinical risk group; persons aged five to 49 years old who are household contacts of people with immunosuppression; and persons aged 16 to 49 years old who are carers.