Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the evidential basis is for the statement by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency that there is high public awareness of the Yellow Card scheme in relation to reporting suspected adverse reactions to Covid-19 vaccination.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has worked with its partners across the health system to ensure that planned COVID-19 vaccination programme communications include information about the Yellow Card scheme. Information about the reporting of side effects via Yellow Card was included on both the information for vaccinees and the UK Health Security Agency materials to support the vaccination programme. These materials were made available as part of the initial call-recall process, as well as at vaccination centres.

Additionally, the MHRA optimised website search functionality for the dedicated Coronavirus Yellow Card reporting site and worked with media outlets to encourage them to carry messages about the reporting of side effects. The scheme was also promoted through targeted social media campaigns, the Drug Safety Update and a press release informing healthcare professionals and members of the public that reporting to the new site would enable the MHRA to rapidly identify new and emerging side effects. The general public were also encouraged to report any suspected side effects of the vaccine to the MHRA via a Yellow Card on televised press briefings.

The number of reports received through the scheme increased throughout the pandemic for non-COVID-19 medicines and vaccines from both patients and healthcare professionals, demonstrating increased public awareness of the important of reporting side effects. Patients are now the largest reporting group in the scheme, and in 2022 the highest number of reports from members of the public were received by the Yellow Card scheme to date.