Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has taken recent steps to prepare for the need to implement an effective vaccination programme in the event of an epidemic or pandemic.

UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has established a new Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre, which will lead on developing and evaluating new and existing vaccines in collaboration with partners across government, industry, and academia, ensuring we have the tools we need to protect health.

We have also established the Centre for Pandemic Preparedness (CPP) within UKHSA to ensure the United Kingdom’s future pandemic responses are more effective and efficient and reduce the negative impacts of health threats. Part of the CPP’s role will be assessing what worked during the COVID-19 pandemic and applying those lessons to future events, including areas such as pandemic vaccine programmes.