Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that no-one has to wait more than 12 weeks for their second covid-19 vaccine.

Vaccine supplies have already been set aside to ensure that everyone who has already received their first dose will receive their second dose within 12 weeks of their first.

The National Immunisation Management System (NIMS) is the centralised service for the management of both the COVID-19 and seasonal flu vaccination programmes established by NHS England. If an individual is invited for a COVID-19 vaccination via a general practitioner (GP), and once the patient has a vaccination, this information is entered onto to the patients’ GP record and recorded on NIMS. A second vaccination appointment can then be offered to the patient in the following 12-week period, in line with national guidance. Vaccinations will be recorded on NIMS and updates sent to GP systems. NHS England’s guidance states that all vaccination centres should ensure that all second dose appointments are booked in by the twelfth week after the first dose.

As a result of the Delta variant against which vaccine efficacy is much greater after the second dose, appointments for a second dose of the vaccine are now being brought forward from 12 to eight weeks for those in cohorts one to nine who are yet to receive their second dose.