Asked by: Lord Booth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the uptake of vaccines during the most recent COVID-19 vaccine programme, and when will the autumn/winter COVID-19 vaccine programme begin.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The spring 2025 data, which covers any dose administered from 1 April to 1 June, shows that 55.3% of all people aged 75 years old and over, and 23.3% of all people aged under 75 years old with a weakened immune system, who are living in England, had been vaccinated. Further information is available on the GOV.UK website, in an online only format.
An announcement on the autumn vaccination programme is expected shortly. This will be followed by an announcement on the spring 2026 programme later in the year.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2025 to Question 58911 on Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme: Coronavirus, if he will set out whether the options for reform to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme include the (a) limitation period for court claims, (b) maximum award, and (c) disability threshold.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I would like to express my sincerest sympathies to those individuals who have experienced harm following vaccination, and to their families. At this stage, I am not in a position to comment further on the details of the options being considered, and will update Parliament in due course, as needed.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish the data sets and methods that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) used to calculate the vaccine effectiveness estimates that informed the cost-effectiveness estimates on which the JCVI’s advice for a COVID-19 vaccination programme in autumn/winter 2025 was based.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s (JCVI) advice on COVID-19 vaccination in 2025 and spring 2026 was published on 13 November 2024.
The advice was based on a cost-effectiveness study of COVID-19 vaccination by the University of Warwick, published in the journal Vaccine in February 2025 by Keeling et al. The UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) vaccine effectiveness estimates were used by the University of Warwick in their cost-effectiveness analysis.
The data set and methodology used by UKHSA to calculate these estimates were published in the Journal of Infection in July 2024 by Kirsebom et al.
The JCVI continues to keep all United Kingdom vaccination programmes under review as new evidence emerges.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of incorrect eligibility advice given through the covid-19 helpline on people receiving that advice.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A vaccination telephone booking service, known as the 119 service, is available during COVID-19 and flu vaccination campaigns to provide booking support and guidance to people who may not be able to use online National Health Service booking services.
No direct assessment has been made of the potential impact of incorrect eligibility advice given through the telephone vaccination service. The service is commissioned by NHS England. NHS England advises that call handlers are trained to provide standard information rather than give individual eligibility advice.
If an individual is concerned that they were given incorrect advice, concerns can be raised with the NHS England Customer Contact Centre.
The spring 2025 COVID-19 campaign in England started on 1 April 2025 and runs until 17 June. All those who are eligible, those aged 75 years old and above, those aged six months old and above with immunosuppression, and those living in care homes for older adults, still have time to take up the vaccination offer, and are encouraged to do so.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure accurate information is provided by the covid-19 vaccination helpline.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A vaccination telephone booking service, known as the 119 service, is available during COVID-19 and flu vaccination campaigns to provide booking support and guidance to people who may not be able to use online National Health Service booking services.
No direct assessment has been made of the potential impact of incorrect eligibility advice given through the telephone vaccination service. The service is commissioned by NHS England. NHS England advises that call handlers are trained to provide standard information rather than give individual eligibility advice.
If an individual is concerned that they were given incorrect advice, concerns can be raised with the NHS England Customer Contact Centre.
The spring 2025 COVID-19 campaign in England started on 1 April 2025 and runs until 17 June. All those who are eligible, those aged 75 years old and above, those aged six months old and above with immunosuppression, and those living in care homes for older adults, still have time to take up the vaccination offer, and are encouraged to do so.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish the data set of the UK Health Security Agency underpinning the article “Effectiveness of autumn 2023 COVID-19 vaccination and residual protection of prior doses against hospitalisation in England, estimated using a test-negative case-control study” published in May 2024.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) does not plan to publish the dataset for this article.
This work is carried out under Regulation 3 of The Health Service (Control of Patient Information; Secretary of State for Health, 2002) using patient identification information without individual patient consent. This is part of the UKHSA’s legal requirement for public health surveillance and vaccine monitoring. The full regulation is available on the GOV.UK website.
As such, authors cannot release the underlying dataset publicly for ethical and legal reasons. However, all the data used for this analysis is included as aggregated data in the manuscript tables and appendix. The full manuscript is available on the UKHSA Research Portal, on the UKHSA’s website.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of raising the minimum age for eligibility for the COVID-19 booster during the spring vaccination programme on healthcare services in (a) Leicester and (b) England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advises the Department on the approach to vaccination and immunisation programmes. The aim of the COVID-19 vaccination programme is to prevent serious disease, leading to hospitalisation and/or mortality, arising from COVID-19.
The JCVI has advised that the available national data continues to demonstrate that older people and those who are immunosuppressed are at greatest risk of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19. The data available to the JCVI is national data, and they therefore made no assessment specific to Leicester.
On 13 November 2024, the JCVI published advice on the COVID-19 vaccination programme for spring 2025, autumn 2025, and spring 2026. This advice can be found at the following link:
On 12 December 2024, the Government accepted the JCVI’s advice that a COVID-19 vaccine should be offered in spring 2025 to adults aged 75 years old and over, residents in a care home for older adults, and the immunosuppressed aged six months old and over. The Government’s response can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/advice-accepted-on-spring-2025-covid-19-vaccination-programme
Eligibility for the spring 2025 campaign, including minimum age requirements, is the same as in previous spring campaigns, such as the 2024 campaign. The Government has no plans to change eligibility for spring 2025, and has accepted the JCVI’s advice for this campaign in full. The spring 2025 campaign began in England on 1 April, and will conclude on 17 June.
The JCVI also advised on eligibility for the autumn 2025 and spring 2026 programmes. The Government is considering this advice carefully and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to reverse the decision to raise the minimum age for eligibility for a COVID-19 booster as part of the spring vaccination programme.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advises the Department on the approach to vaccination and immunisation programmes. The aim of the COVID-19 vaccination programme is to prevent serious disease, leading to hospitalisation and/or mortality, arising from COVID-19.
The JCVI has advised that the available national data continues to demonstrate that older people and those who are immunosuppressed are at greatest risk of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19. The data available to the JCVI is national data, and they therefore made no assessment specific to Leicester.
On 13 November 2024, the JCVI published advice on the COVID-19 vaccination programme for spring 2025, autumn 2025, and spring 2026. This advice can be found at the following link:
On 12 December 2024, the Government accepted the JCVI’s advice that a COVID-19 vaccine should be offered in spring 2025 to adults aged 75 years old and over, residents in a care home for older adults, and the immunosuppressed aged six months old and over. The Government’s response can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/advice-accepted-on-spring-2025-covid-19-vaccination-programme
Eligibility for the spring 2025 campaign, including minimum age requirements, is the same as in previous spring campaigns, such as the 2024 campaign. The Government has no plans to change eligibility for spring 2025, and has accepted the JCVI’s advice for this campaign in full. The spring 2025 campaign began in England on 1 April, and will conclude on 17 June.
The JCVI also advised on eligibility for the autumn 2025 and spring 2026 programmes. The Government is considering this advice carefully and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Juliet Campbell (Labour - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing free Covid-19 vaccine boosters to people with long Covid.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
The JCVI stated in its advice for the autumn 2024 COVID-19 vaccination programme that there remains considerable uncertainty regarding the impact of additional vaccine doses, beyond the primary vaccination, on the risk, progression, and outcome of post-COVID syndromes. The JCVI advised that better data is needed on the impact of additional vaccine doses on the occurrence and severity of post-COVID syndromes in the current era of omicron sub-variants of the COVID-19 virus, and high population immunity. This advice is available at the following link:
On 13 November 2024, the JCVI published advice on the COVID-19 vaccination programmes in spring 2025, autumn 2025, and spring 2026. This advice is available at the following link:
The Government has accepted the JCVI’s advice on eligibility for the spring 2025 COVID-19 vaccination programme, to include those aged 75 years old and above, those aged six months old or above with immunosuppression, and those living in care homes for older adults. The Government response is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/advice-accepted-on-spring-2025-covid-19-vaccination-programme
The Government is considering the advice for autumn 2025 and spring 2026 carefully, and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Jonathan Davies (Labour - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to ensure that non-mRNA covid vaccines are made available via the NHS to people unable to receive mRNA vaccines.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All vaccines in the United Kingdom must be authorised by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) before they can be placed on the United Kingdom’s market. The updated 2024/25 Novavax (Nuvaxovid) COVID-19 vaccine has not been authorised by the MHRA.
The COVID-19 chapter of the publication, Immunisation against infectious diseases, also known as the Green Book, details that there are very few individuals who cannot receive the COVID-19 vaccines approved in the UK. The Green Book Chapter 14a can be found on the GOV.UK website, at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-the-green-book-chapter-14a
Published advice recommends that anyone with a prior allergic reaction to COVID-19 vaccines should be seen by an expert allergist and, after a review of the individual’s risks and benefits of vaccination, where vaccination is indicated, they could then be vaccinated in hospital under clinical supervision. NHS England will continue to follow this clinical guidance and offer mRNA vaccination under expert supervision in a hospital setting. This advice can be found at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/vaccinations/COVID-19-vaccine/