Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the level of demand for flu jabs, and (2) reports that pharmacies and GPs have not had sufficient stock to meet demand; and what steps they are taking to ensure that pharmacies and GPs are supplied with enough vaccines to meet community need.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Overall, there are sufficient vaccine for up to 30 million people to be vaccinated in England this winter. We have seen huge early demand for vaccinations and latest figures show that uptake is higher for all cohorts compared to last year.
General practitioners, community pharmacies, and trusts are directly responsible for ordering flu vaccine from suppliers which are used to deliver the national flu programme to adults, with deliveries phased through the season.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their announcement on 24 July that the “most comprehensive flu programme in UK history will be rolled out this winter”, what steps they took to ensure that a supply of flu vaccines would be available; and what assessment they have made of the reported shortage of such vaccines for autumn 2020.
Answered by Lord Bethell
There is no national shortage of the flu vaccine. We have sufficient vaccine for up to 30 million people to be vaccinated in England this winter.
General practitioners and pharmacists are directly responsible for ordering flu vaccine from suppliers which are used to deliver the national flu programme to adults, with deliveries phased through the season.
In addition, the Department has procured additional doses of seasonal flu vaccine to ensure more flu vaccines are available from November.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to conduct universal testing for COVID-19 at airports in England.
Answered by Lord Bethell
On 12 March 2020 the Prime Minister announced that the COVID-19 response was moving from the contain to delay phase. This phase has been initiated as there is now community transmission of the virus in the United Kingdom, i.e. transmission not directly related to travel; this has made interventions in ports of less relative importance. With the shift to the delay phase and commensurate policy changes, the Public Health England approach is that testing capacity should not be focused on airports.