Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 27 April (HL7380), whether they considered whether materials disseminated by public bodies in support of a public health campaign to increase routine vaccination uptake were seen to "promote the prescription, supply, sale or use" of specific medicine or medicines, either intentionally or unintentionally; if so, whether this material fell within the definition under regulation 7 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012; and if not, which legal provision provided an exemption from regulation 7 for public health campaign advertisements.

It is the view of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) that materials disseminated by Government bodies in support of a public health campaign are not caught by the definition of an advertisement for a medicine as given in regulation 7. This is because these materials were not ‘designed to promote the prescription, supply, sale or use’ of a specific medicine or medicines. Instead, these materials were disseminated to promote public health by encouraging people to seek appropriate medical intervention, in this case uptake of vaccination against COVID-19.

The MHRA is obliged to consider any complaints made to it about the advertising of medicines. While carrying out its statutory duties, the MHRA will assess each case on its own merits and in light of the available evidence.