Coronavirus: Vaccination

(asked on 4th September 2023) - View Source

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 making the covid-19 vaccination available privately as part of the seasonal booster programme.


Answered by
Maria Caulfield Portrait
Maria Caulfield
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This question was answered on 12th September 2023

The Government is guided by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on eligible cohorts for vaccination who have advised that the objective for the autumn/winter campaign is to continue to focus the offer of vaccination on those at greatest risk of serious disease and who are therefore most likely to benefit from vaccination.

Vaccines that have been licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency for use in the United Kingdom can be prescribed by a physician, either in the National Health Service or privately.

To date, the pharmaceutical companies producing COVID-19 vaccines have not made these treatments commercially available to the private health care sector in the United Kingdom either through pharmacies or other healthcare providers, but this is a matter for pharmaceutical companies rather than the Government or Parliament.

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