Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many independent medical assessors have decided claims made under the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme in respect of adverse reactions to Covid-19 vaccines; whether such assessors are medically qualified; and whether their decisions in respect of claims have been overruled by reviewers in his Department.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
152 independent medical assessors have provided reports to the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), who administer the scheme, relating to COVID-19 vaccine claims made under the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS).
All VDPS claims are medically assessed by an independent medical assessor. Independent medical assessors are General Medical Council registered doctors with a license to practise and at least five years’ experience.
The Department is not involved in processing claims or making decisions on claim outcomes.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many claims have been received under the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme on behalf of someone who has died; how many such claims were successful; and how many such claims are outstanding.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Since the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) started administering the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) on 1 November 2021, the VDPS has received 411 COVID-19 vaccine related claims on behalf of someone who has died. Of these claims, 27 claimants have been informed they are entitled to a Vaccine Damage Payment and 291 claims have not yet reached an outcome.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many requests for mandatory reversal of decisions relating to claims under the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme in respect of adverse reactions to Covid-19 vaccines have been received; on what date the first such request was received; how many decisions in response to requests for mandatory reversal have been decided; and how many such requests have been successful.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The NHS Business Services Authority, who administer the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS), have received 177 mandatory reversal requests relating to COVID-19 vaccines. The first of these requests was received in August 2022. Of the 177 reversal requests, 13 claimants have been notified of an outcome.
The number of mandatory reversals resulting in a payment award is fewer than five and therefore we are unable to provide the exact figure. This is because there is a risk that claimants could be identified using a combination of information that may be in the public domain or reasonably available.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the potential adverse effects are of the spike proteins produced by mRNA covid-19 vaccinations.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
A vaccinated individual may be exposed to the spike protein of circulating SARS CoV-2 virus in the population in addition to spike protein produced by the mRNA COVID-19 vaccinations. Therefore, it is not feasible to attribute potential adverse effects to spike proteins produced by the vaccine specifically.
However, studies of toxicity in animals given the vaccine have been performed and allowed such effects to be detected. This is because these studies ensured that the animal was only exposed to the spike proteins through their mRNA vaccination. The toxicity studies of animals were reviewed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the MHRA’s independent expert advisory group, the Commission on Human Medicines.
The study results did not indicate the presence of effects other than those expected for a vaccine. This includes, for example, an increase in body temperature, and swelling and redness at the injection site, which arise from the vaccine working to induce an immune response. The MHRA keeps emerging evidence on the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines used in the United Kingdom immunisation programme under continual review and will take appropriate action to minimise risks to patients.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Government response entitled, UK regulator confirms that people should continue to receive the COVID-19 vaccine AstraZeneca, published on 18 March 2021, if he will publish the evidence on which the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency based this advice.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
To provide patients and healthcare professionals with information on the evolving safety experience with the COVID-19 vaccines used in the United Kingdom vaccination programme, from February 2021 the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has published details of their ongoing safety assessments in the coronavirus vaccine summary of Yellow Card reporting.
Information on blood clots occurring with thrombocytopenia was first included in the report on 25 March 2021 and was updated on a weekly basis to reflect the evolving assessment and regulatory position after the 7 April 2021 announcement that a link was considered possible and warnings were to be added to the vaccine’s product information. The higher incidence rate in younger adult age groups was highlighted with advice that the evolving evidence should be considered in the context of using this vaccine. From 29 April 2021 a breakdown of reports by age and sex was included, followed by the inclusion of incidence rates broken down by age. The report has continued to conclude that the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccines outweigh the known risks for the majority of people.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he last met the Chief Executive of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to discuss vaccine safety.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Our Covid-19 and flu vaccination programmes have saved tens of thousands of lives across the country and helped to ease pressure on the NHS during a challenging winter.
The UK has some of the highest safety standards in the world and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is globally recognised for requiring high standards of quality, safety and effectiveness.
Ministers and officials correspond frequently with the Chief Executive and MHRA officials, including on the safety of medicinal products.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of repeated Covid-19 vaccine boosters on natural immunity for patients aged (a) over and (b) under 30.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Natural immunity alone provides good levels of protection against severe COVID-19, while the combination of natural and repeated vaccine-induced immunity, through initial vaccination and subsequent vaccine boosters, create ‘hybrid immunity’ which is associated with even higher levels of protection in patients aged over and under 30 years old. These high levels of strong population immunity that have developed over the past two and a half years is under regular monitoring through UK Health Security Agency public health surveillance programmes.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many of the staff working on the operation of the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme are (a) full time and (b) part time employees; what is the number of full time equivalents of the part time employees; and what is the average time taken to process each Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme application.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
There are currently 72 full-time employees and 27 part-time employees in NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) working on the operation of the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, with the overall full-time equivalents of part-time employees being 18.2. These figures do not include current vacancies.
From 1 May 2022 to 30 April 2023, the average number of days for a claim to conclude is 215 calendar days. However, processing times for claims vary significantly depending on the individual circumstances of the claim and in particular on the length of time it takes for healthcare providers to send the claimant’s medical records to NHSBSA. To reduce the length of time it takes to process cases, Subject Access Requests have been introduced where there is no engagement from a healthcare provider within 28 days.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Regulation 28 Report to Prevent Future Deaths sent to his Department on 13 October 2022, which states that from the 25th February 2022 the MHRA investigated the potential signal of immune thrombocytopenia and identified three cases of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis which could possibly be associated with the Astra Zeneca covid-19 vaccine, if he will make an assessment of the reasons for which the MHRA did not receive all of the necessary clinical information to allow them fully to consider these cases; and whether sufficient information has now been provided to the MHRA to allow them to make a full consideration.
Answered by Will Quince
Prevention of Future Death reports play a valuable role in drawing matters of concern to the attention of the Government, its agencies and others to determine if action should be taken. The Department ensures that relevant regulators and other bodies are aware of matters of concern brought to its attention so that the system can respond as appropriate, and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has provided input into the Department's response to this Regulation 28 Report.
The Department is finalising its response to this Regulation 28 report. It is within the Chief Coroner’s discretion to publish the report, together with the Department’s response.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason reforming the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme would require the processing of all current claims to be paused and clinical contracts to be renegotiated; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Should any reforms be made to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS), particularly legislative, it would likely be necessary to pause the processing of cases to allow for the reforms to be implemented in a way which limited unequal treatment between cases. An assessment of the impacts of any specific reform would be required before a decision was taken to pause the processing of cases. The Department is focused on continuing to process claims made through the VDPS, working to ensure that those who qualify receive payments as quickly as possible.