Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what funding they are providing for research into COVID-19 vaccines for medically extremely vulnerable groups.
The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health Research which is funding a wide portfolio of research on COVID-19 vaccination, including allocating over £50 million specifically to develop COVID-19 vaccines at the University of Oxford and Imperial College London.
In addition, UK Research and Innovation is providing around £2 million to support research on vaccine responses in groups of immune-supressed individuals, including those with inflammatory disorders, high risk cancer patient groups, and patients with severe kidney and liver disease.