Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects the MHRA to license a covid-19 nasal vaccine; and whether approval of nasal vaccines will be fast-tracked in line with injectable covid-19 vaccines; and if he will make a statement.
Any route to approval of nasal vaccine treatments is subject to the developer seeking regulatory approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA is therefore unable to provide a timetable for the approval of a COVID-19 nasal vaccine, as information on products not approved for use in the United Kingdom is commercially and market-sensitive. As with all other COVID-19 vaccines, the MHRA will ensure a thorough and expedited assessment of any such medicine’s safety and efficacy before any authorisation.