Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the (a) importance of the OCTAVE trial and the timescale for its preliminary and full results for people who are clinically extremely vulnerable immunosuppressed and (b) level of risk to those people during the period from the end of shielding to the completion of the covid-19 vaccination programme for all adults; and what steps he is taking to reduce the risk of infection and protect people who are immunosuppressed, who may not fully benefit from their own vaccination, in addition to prioritising the vaccination for the people who live with them.

This OCTAVE study will provide important insights into the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in clinically at-risk groups. This includes COVID-19 vaccine responses in patients with certain immunosuppressed conditions, including those with inflammatory disorders, high risk cancer patient groups, and patients with severe kidney and liver disease. The research will use comprehensive immune tests performed on blood samples taken before and/or after COVID-19 vaccination. It will determine patients’ COVID-19 immune response and therefore the likelihood that vaccines will fully protect these groups from COVID-19 infection. Key sample timings include 28 days and 6 months post vaccine boost. Results will be available within three months of sampling date. It is estimated that initial results for 28 days post-vaccine will be available across the majority of the cohort by the middle of June.

The decision to pause shielding was based on the epidemiological data which showed that cases of COVID-19 had fallen considerably from when national restrictions were first introduced in January. In addition to the prioritisation for COVID-19 vaccines of households of immunosuppressed individuals, the Government continues to provide all clinically extremely vulnerable individuals with additional guidance that they are advised to take to help protect themselves.