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 merits of funding research into the efficacy of covid-19 vaccines and treatment options for people with blood cancer and blood disorders.

While Government-funded therapeutics research is not specifically focused on people with blood cancer or blood disorders, many of these patients are immunocompromised, which is a priority cohort for research into therapeutic and prophylaxis treatments such as monoclonal antibody therapies, novel antivirals, and repurposed compounds.

As part of the COVID-19 Immunity National Core Study, UK Research and Innovation is providing £4 million towards the OCTAVE study. The OCTAVE study will examine the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in clinically at-risk groups. This includes vaccine responses in patients with certain immunosuppressed conditions, such as blood cancer and blood disorders.