Covid-19 Vaccination

Ashley Dalton Excerpts

Wednesday 16th July 2025 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Ashley Dalton)]

His Majesty’s Government is committed to protecting people most vulnerable to covid-19 through vaccination as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

On 13 November 2024, the JCVI published advice on the covid-19 vaccination programme for spring 2025, autumn 2025 and spring 2026. On 26 June 2025, the Government decided, in line with JCVI advice, that a covid-19 vaccine should be offered in autumn 2025 to those in the population most vulnerable to serious outcomes from covid-19 and who are therefore most likely to benefit from vaccination.

Vaccination will be offered in England in autumn 2025 to:

adults aged 75 years and over;

residents in a care home for older adults;

individuals aged six months and over who are immuno-suppressed, as defined in tables 3 and 4 of the covid-19 chapter of the UK Health Security Agency green book on immunisation against infectious disease.

The Government will respond in due course to the JCVI’s advice for spring 2026.

The vaccines that will be supplied for the autumn 2025 programme are the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA (Comirnaty) vaccines.

Notification of liabilities

I am now updating the House on the liabilities HMG has taken on in relation to further vaccine deployment via this statement and accompanying departmental minute laid in Parliament containing a description of the liability undertaken.

As part of the contractual arrangements with covid-19 vaccine producers for vaccines pre-procured as part of HMG’s pandemic emergency response the provision of an indemnity was required to enter into supply agreements. The agreement to provide indemnity increases the contingent liability of the covid-19 vaccination programme, with deployment of further doses of vaccines purchased as part of the emergency response.

The adult Pfizer BioNTech mRNA (Comirnaty) doses to be used in autumn 2025 are the only remaining doses of covid-19 vaccines purchased as part of the emergency response. This will therefore be the last increase in the overall contingent liability arising from an additional deployment of covid-19 vaccines.

I will update the House as appropriate if any future decisions further impact the contingent liability of the covid-19 vaccination programme.

[HCWS829]