Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding has his Department allocated to process compensation claims caused by Covid-19 vaccines; and how much of that budget has been spent as of 16 August 2023.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department has identified contingent liabilities relating to the COVID-19 vaccines and reports on these to Parliament on a confidential basis due to commercial sensitivities. Any spend incurred against these liabilities will be reported in the usual way in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts.
Asked by: Maggie Throup (Conservative - Erewash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will ringfence budgets to promote vaccine uptake for (a) flu and (b) covid-19 for the 2023/24 winter season.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
It is vitally important that everyone takes up the vaccinations to which they are entitled; for themselves, their families and wider society. The Department continues to use the best available evidence to demonstrate the health benefits of vaccinations at both a personal and population level, and highlights these messages through regular media, stakeholder and social media engagement. The Department also works closely with both NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency to develop vaccination guides and patient facing consent resources to demonstrate the benefits of vaccinations for all, as well as ensuring that reputable sources such as NHS.UK or GOV.UK are prominent and readily signposted.
A paid for campaign to promote uptake of seasonal flu and COVID-19 booster vaccinations for this season is in development, due to launch in early November 2023.
Asked by: Maggie Throup (Conservative - Erewash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of changing eligible age cohorts for annual flu vaccination on the uptake of (a) influenza and (b) covid-19 vaccines.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Vaccine uptake rates are considered in the planning for future vaccination programmes. However, no assessment has been made of the potential impacts of changes to the eligibility criteria for flu and COVID-19 vaccines on vaccine uptake rates. This is because the primary aim of the COVID-19 and flu vaccination programme continues to be the prevention of severe disease (hospitalisation and mortality) and vaccination is therefore offered to those at greatest risk of serious disease.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the evidential basis is for the statement by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency that there is high public awareness of the Yellow Card scheme in relation to reporting suspected adverse reactions to Covid-19 vaccination.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has worked with its partners across the health system to ensure that planned COVID-19 vaccination programme communications include information about the Yellow Card scheme. Information about the reporting of side effects via Yellow Card was included on both the information for vaccinees and the UK Health Security Agency materials to support the vaccination programme. These materials were made available as part of the initial call-recall process, as well as at vaccination centres.
Additionally, the MHRA optimised website search functionality for the dedicated Coronavirus Yellow Card reporting site and worked with media outlets to encourage them to carry messages about the reporting of side effects. The scheme was also promoted through targeted social media campaigns, the Drug Safety Update and a press release informing healthcare professionals and members of the public that reporting to the new site would enable the MHRA to rapidly identify new and emerging side effects. The general public were also encouraged to report any suspected side effects of the vaccine to the MHRA via a Yellow Card on televised press briefings.
The number of reports received through the scheme increased throughout the pandemic for non-COVID-19 medicines and vaccines from both patients and healthcare professionals, demonstrating increased public awareness of the important of reporting side effects. Patients are now the largest reporting group in the scheme, and in 2022 the highest number of reports from members of the public were received by the Yellow Card scheme to date.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2023 to Question 190812 on Coronavirus: Vaccination, what assessment he has made of (a) the robustness and (b) the implications for his policies of the study's findings in Table 2 on levels of Serious Adverse Events for people vaccinated with the Pfizer mRNA vaccine.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
All COVID-19 vaccines deployed in the United Kingdom have been authorised for use following a rigorous review by the independent regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
The MHRA continuously monitors safety during the widespread use of a vaccine. It keeps all available evidence under review, including studies, published literature and data arising from usage in the UK and internationally, including the article referenced. The MHRA communicates safety advice based upon the totality of evidence rather than the strengths and limitations of individual data sources.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that COVID-19 vaccines may cause serious side effects, including death; and what steps they taking to collate all evidence on side effects from COVID-19 vaccinations in order that sufferers may be advised how best to respond to symptoms.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All COVID-19 vaccines deployed in the United Kingdom have been authorised for use following a rigorous review by the independent regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
The MHRA continuously monitors a wide range of data regarding the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, including reports of adverse reactions from the UK and internationally. The MHRA’s position remains that the benefits of these vaccines far outweigh any currently known side effects in the majority of patients.
In the very rare event where an individual may have suffered a severe adverse reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine, care is likely to be best managed by local National Health Service specialist services, augmented as appropriate by national specialist advice.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July 2023 to Question 191948 on Coronavirus: Vaccination, whether his Department has made an assessment of the (a) value for money of, (b) reduction of contractual liabilities in and (c) lessons learned from its supply agreement with Valneva.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department assessed the value for money of its supply agreement with Valneva at the time the agreement was terminated. As part of the termination of the contract a settlement was agreed which resulted in contract liabilities being reduced. No additional payments will be made by the Government to Valneva as part of the agreed settlement terms.
The Department and the UK Health Security Agency seek to learn lessons from all contracts awarded, including the Valneva supply agreement, and apply those lessons to future agreements. We are unable to provide specific details of the settlement agreement as these are commercially sensitive.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in how many and what proportion of cases in which a fatal outcome was reported following covid-19 vaccination did a healthcare professional seek further information about the case; and how many and what proportion of such follow-up requests resulted in (a) further information and (b) no response being provided.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) acknowledge receipt of every Yellow Card report received and a team of safety experts follows up for further information as necessary, including all reports with a fatal outcome, based on the completeness, severity and clinical details provided in the report.
Responses to follow-up requests for adverse drug reaction (ADR) reports are recorded and stored with the original report on the MHRA’s ADR database. The information is then passed downstream for use in signal detection and the identification of safety concerns. The data is available for its core purpose of assessment and signal detection; however, the systems were not designed to quantify the follow-up metrics requested. As such, it is not possible to automatically generate metrics on the proportion of follow-up requests sent, or those which resulted in further information being received.
Asked by: Baroness Bull (Crossbench - Life peer)
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 June (HL8432), whether their current policy is to allow the private sale of COVID-19 vaccines through (1) pharmacies, or (2) other healthcare providers.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As mentioned in my letter on 1 June, the private provision of COVID-19 vaccination is not a decision for the Government.
Vaccines that have been licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency for use in the United Kingdom can be prescribed by a physician, either in the National Health Service or privately. However, as yet, the pharmaceutical companies producing COVID-19 vaccines have not made these treatments commercially available to the private health care sector in the UK either through pharmacies or other healthcare providers.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to the public purse was of the contract with Valneva for covid-19 vaccinations; when this contract was ended; and how many vaccinations were received through that contract.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We are unable to provide the information requested as it is commercially sensitive. The Government terminated its full supply agreement with Valneva in September 2021. As such, the United Kingdom did not receive any doses through the contract.