Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of altering the time period permitted between receiving a covid-19 vaccine and donating blood.

’Non-live’ immunisations, including all COVID-19 vaccines currently licensed in the United Kingdom, do not use material that can cause the recipient infection. This means there is no risk to people receiving donated material from a recently immunised non-exposed donor. However, NHS Blood and Transplant advises donors who have received a COVID-19 vaccine to wait for seven days before donating blood. This is because some patients may experience side effects which would require the donation to be deferred until the side effects had settled to ensure the safety of the donor. If a donor develops symptoms after their donation, NHS Blood and Transplant would recall any components made from these donations from production and/or hospitals as a precautionary measure.