Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has commissioned a review of the Sars-CoV-2 for Cancer Patients (SOAP) study.

Ad-hoc meetings of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are determined by the Chair, in consultation with the secretariat and Department. Ad-hoc committee meetings are called at key timepoints for the development of advice to the Department, outside the usual meeting schedule. Public Health England (PHE) provides the secretariat for the JCVI. Meeting papers are circulated as far in advance as possible. Given the frequency of meetings at this time, papers may be circulated around one to two days prior to the meeting.

The JCVI does not commission research or organisations. Data have been provided to the Committee from a variety of organisations, including OpenSAFELY, QCOVID, University of Oxford, industry representatives and PHE. Published or pre-publication academic research is also considered by the committee. The SARS-CoV-2 for Cancer Patients study has been provided to the JCVI’s members. The JCVI is considering this paper and other academic research into immune responses to COVID-19 vaccines. The JCVI has not commissioned an external review of this paper. Their considerations and advice will be published in the minutes of the meetings and in the Green Book: Immunisation against infectious disease, in due course.