Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to protect individuals who are immuno-compromised and therefore cannot be vaccinated against COVID-19; and whether they plan to offer those individuals plasma from people who have either (1) recovered from COVID-19, or (2) been fully vaccinated.

All immunocompromised people have been offered a COVID-19 vaccination. We continue to monitor vaccine efficacy to identify groups, such as the immunocompromised, who may require additional support. Immunocompromised individuals are a priority cohort for research into therapeutic and prophylaxis treatments such as monoclonal antibody therapies, novel antivirals and repurposed compounds.

It is not yet possible to determine the exact cohort of patients who may benefit from these treatments, as this will depend on results released by ongoing trials as they conclude, licensing approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and deployment planning. We are taking steps to ensure supply of treatments in the event that they are found to be effective. We are developing options for further clinical trials where necessary.

Convalescent plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19 was found to not provide a clinical benefit in hospitalised patients in the RECOVERY clinical trial. However, we keep the evidence under review for all neutralising antibody therapies including convalescent plasma. The NHS Blood and Transplant study C-VELVET will provide information on the levels of antibodies produced by patients post vaccination and could support further research and development of antibody therapies.