Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reason there was a shortage of the BCG vaccine in 2015; and what steps his Department is taking so that such shortages do not occur in the future.

The supply of United Kingdom licensed Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine continues to be subject to intermittent manufacturing problems, which have impacted deliveries of vaccine into the UK. This delay has resulted in the depletion of the UK buffer stock and impacted onward supply to the National Health Service in 2015. The NHS remains subject to periods of intermittent supply.

This is in the context of a global shortage of BCG vaccine where Public Health England (PHE) and the Department are actively engaging alternative manufacturers of BCG vaccine to secure supply during this period of disruption as quickly as possible. PHE continues to provide prioritisation advice to healthcare professionals during the period of constrained supply.