Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what happens to stocks of Covid-19 vaccines that have been purchased for use at a Covid-19 community vaccination clinic when that clinic is closed.

Vaccination clinics that are closing are required to manage the process to ensure viable vaccine stock is either used prior to closure or transferred to an alternative active site in advance of the planned closure. Any vaccine movement that take place must be in accordance with the policy for Transfer of COVID-19 vaccines between National Health Service vaccination sites and be conducted using the dedicated vaccine transfer application, to ensure full visibility of the movement of each vial of vaccine. In some circumstances the stock may need to be disposed of locally, for instance where the stock is very close to its expiry and cannot be used by the site or by nearby sites before the expiry date.

All sites follow a stringent weekly stock control process. This site level inventory data is monitored on a daily basis to ensure stock levels are carefully managed in line with actual vaccination events and expected demand to ensure vaccine stock levels for each site are carefully controlled and aligned to predicted requirements.