Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the decision-making process was ahead of the decision not to procure Evusheld including what (a) discussions took place and (b) evidence was used to inform the decision; and for what reason the Government decided not to procure Evusheld.

The Government has decided not to procure Evusheld for prevention through emergency routes at this time. This is a decision based on independent clinical advice by the multi-agency RAPID C-19 and a national expert policy working group. These groups considered a range of evidence, including clinical trial data, in vitro analysis and emerging observational studies and concluded there is currently insufficient evidence of benefit to recommend deployment. The Chief Medical Officer for England is content that the correct process for providing clinical advice has been followed and this should now be referred to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for further evaluation.

The Department wrote to patient groups on 5 September 2022 with information on this decision and evidence considered. The letter summarised the evidence considered by RAPID C-19 that contributed to the decision not to procure and deploy Evusheld and detailed the next steps the Government will take.