Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on what date the UK Health Security Agency plans to complete testing on Evusheld’s efficacy against the omicron variant of covid-19; and what steps his Department plans to take to notify immunocompromised people that they are eligible for that treatment in the event that it is authorised.

AstraZeneca commissioned the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to undertake testing on the effectiveness of Evusheld against the Omicron variants and initial data for the BA.1 and BA.2 variants has been shared. However, AstraZeneca has not commissioned the UKHSA to initiate testing for the Omicron variant BA.4. After reviewing the data, AstraZeneca can determine whether to commission further testing.

The Therapeutics Clinical Review Panel provides advice on the appropriate patient cohorts for new COVID-19 therapeutics, including preventive treatments such as Evusheld. If a decision to procure Evusheld for the National Health Service is made, we will determine how eligible patients should be notified.