Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the cost of providing antibody testing to the estimated 500,000 immunocompromised and immunosuppressed patients who may not mount a full response to the covid-19 vaccines.

The Antivirals and Therapeutics Taskforce is exploring options for a pilot study to test antibody levels in immunosuppressed patients to provide clinical evidence of a potential protective vaccine response. This could inform a wider testing programme identifying those who have mounted a protective antibody response following vaccination and provide more informed advice.

No specific cost estimate has yet been made. However, officials are in discussions with experts in this area and further information will be available in due course.