Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in each month of 2021, how many (a) AstraZeneca and (b) Pfizer doses have reached their expiry dates before being administered in the UK.

Information on vaccine wastage prior to entering NHS England and NHS Improvement’s supply chain is not held in the format requested. Information on vaccine wastage within the supply chain is not held centrally.

Mitigations have been put in place to reduce wastage. Stock levels have been monitored at regional, system and site level with deliveries adjusted accordingly. This includes keeping stock in the supply chain and encouraging sites to reallocate vaccines at local level. Deliveries have been managed in line with site capacity, population density and available supply to ensure that any vaccine is used within a short timeframe. On 17 January 2022, NHS England and NHS Improvement wrote to healthcare providers to advise that certain unpunctured and undamaged Pfizer vaccines have had the post thaw shelf-life extended from 31 days to 45 days.