The COVID-19 Vaccination Programme continues under DHSC management with seasonal booster campaigns scheduled for autumn 2025 and spring 2025. The programme involves departmental contingent liability notifications and ongoing vaccine procurement and deployment. Current status reflects the transition from emergency pandemic response to routine seasonal vaccination management for vulnerable populations.
Direction: to_committee
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 20 of his Department's Opening Statement to Module 4 of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, published 15 January 2025, what estimate his Department has made of …
Direction: from_committee
Direction: to_committee
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans she has to (a) review and (b) expand the criteria for the vaccine damage payment scheme. Answer: All routine policy, including the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS), …
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department plans to undertake a (a) review of and (b) public consultation on the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme. Answer: All routine policy, including the Vaccine Damage Payment …
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will require a review of the effectiveness of the vaccine damage payment scheme. Answer: All routine policy, including the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS), is reviewed on …
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Direction: unknown
Vaccination is the one of the greatest success stories when it comes to preventing infection. Its impact is transformative. This makes it all the more concerning that England did not reach the 95% target for any routine childhood immunisations in …
To ensure that nobody misses out on vital vaccine protection because of practical challenges such as convenient times or locations, a more flexible delivery model, that makes the most of the wide range of healthcare professionals, is needed. We recommend …
We agree that there is a need for national oversight of vaccination programmes and the value of this was clear during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, with routine immunisation programmes, the role of the Government and, in particular, NHS England must …
We welcome NHS England’s intention to set out an integrated vaccination and immunisation strategy. This strategy will be vital if England is to meet the 95% target for all childhood vaccinations and to address the variations in uptake across routine …
The NHS England integrated vaccination and immunisation strategy must: a) have a strong focus on the action that is needed to tackle the practical challenges that limit access to vaccination; b) set out how to make best use of the …
As well as the significant volumes of PPE it purchased, and is now disposing of, the Department entered into contracts for both COVID-19 vaccines and COVID-19 medicines which commit it to procure future stock. It recognised impairments on these contracts …
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Direction: unknown
The Department has handed back responsibility for the PPE programme to Supply Chain Coordination Limited (SCCL) with many issues still to be resolved. Since October 2021, oversight of SCCL transferred from the Department to NHS England and in April 2022 …
NHS England has started planning for a reduction in vaccine sites and staffing for the rest of 2022 in anticipation of lower overall demand, but it is not yet clear how its strategy will strike the right balance between maintaining …
There is considerable learning from the COVID-19 vaccine programme that might apply elsewhere, both in the health sector, such as screening programmes and routine vaccinations, and across wider government. In our March 2022 report on government preparedness for the pandemic, …
After starting with a portfolio of seven candidates, the UK’s vaccine supply for 2022 and 2023 now relies primarily on just two, yet many of the risks that the ‘portfolio’ approach was intended to mitigate remain. The UK’s portfolio strategy …
We were concerned that, in the week before the start of the new financial year, the Department had not finalised the allocation of its £9.6 billion Spending Review settlement for COVID-19 response activities, creating uncertainty for the vaccine programme. In …
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department of Health and Social Care (the Department), the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHS …
Overall the evidence session indicated that officials were keen to learn lessons and saw clear potential benefits from doing so. However, it seemed likely to us that different organisations could be left to learn their own lessons and then to …
The vaccine programme still has some issues to address. In England, 2.98 million adults were still unvaccinated at the end of May 2022. Analysis by UKHSA has confirmed that full and booster vaccination reduces the risk of someone falling seriously …
We are most concerned about the comparatively low vaccination uptake that persists in many vulnerable groups and, after the first booster campaign, has actually widened in some. For example, compared to people of White British origin, people of Black, Black …
Since then, out of the original portfolio of seven candidates, six have been approved for use in the UK to date.44 But with six vaccines to choose from, it is noteworthy that only three—AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna—have actually been deployed …
In our assessment, many of the risks that the portfolio approach was intended to mitigate remain. Most notable among these is the risk that future variants of the virus may respond better to one vaccine than another, perhaps a vaccine …
The Taskforce also told us that the COVID-19 vaccine market was still developing and that it considered many different factors when deciding which vaccines to procure, including the evolution of the virus and improved learning about different types of vaccines …
The next stage for the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination programme is to vaccinate 5- to 11-year-olds. NHS England told us it recognised that this would probably be a slower and more challenging rollout given the adaptations necessary to accommodate …
It is in this context that NHS England has started to plan for a reduction in vaccine sites and staffing in 2022. Its strategy responds to the likely drop in the overall scale of the vaccination effort, but it is …
We also heard from NHS England that it was moving to a position where the NHS and wider public sector estate should be used for vaccination sites wherever possible, in preference to renting private sector sites. Nevertheless, officials confirmed that …
The NAO report highlighted that future staffing was a major risk for the programme as a whole, due to staff burnout and the lack of surplus capacity in the healthcare system more generally.60 This was echoed by evidence provided to …
Opportunities to reduce wastage should also be part of NHS considerations about which vaccination sites will remain open in future. A nationwide pharmacy chain, Boots UK, told us that it would support a future model in which particular vaccination sites …
The week before the start of the new financial year, the Department had still not finalised the allocation of its £9.6 billion Spending Review settlement for COVID-19 response activities, creating uncertainty for the vaccine programme. In the 2021 Spending Review, …
Finally, we note that in setting up the vaccine programme the Department provided indemnities to vaccine manufacturers, which gave cover for future claims against producers for any adverse effects of their vaccines. These indemnities may add to the costs of …
The 2020 Spending Review allocated £15 billion to NHST&T for 2021–22, to be kept under review as the vaccine programme rolled out.77 The government is now accelerating the roll-out of vaccines across the country, but we are yet to see …
Despite BEIS’s confidence, concerns remain over the vaccine supply chain. Under the Government’s ambitious plans, everyone who wants a vaccination should be able to have one by Autumn 2021. This will depend on continuing vaccine supply. Whilst BEIS asserts that …
DHSC, NHSE&I and PHE will continue to face significant challenges in making sure they can get the vaccine to the right people at the right time. Each vaccine will require different plans for deploying because each has different characteristics. Getting …
There is a risk that NHSE&I and DHSC’s plans for the vaccine programme will not meet public expectations. NHSE&I recognises that its goal to vaccinate the first four priority groups by 15 February is a huge task which it appears …
Public confidence in the vaccine programme is crucial to its success yet some members of the public and health professionals were confused by the messaging about when and how people can access a vaccine. The number of people who choose …
Government plans to have offered a first vaccine dose to everyone in the top four priority groups identified by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation by 15 February. This includes: all residents in a care home for older adults …
We asked NHSE&I whether the timetable for the roll-out of the vaccine was realistic, and how fast it could reach those groups on the priority list. NHSE&I told us that over the first three weeks of the programme, it had …
NHSE&I is planning its deployment of vaccines in the face of high levels of uncertainty because information about the COVID-19 vaccines is still changing. It needs to keep its plans under review to ensure it can respond to the latest …
Decisions about who will be vaccinated were taken by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, as is the case with all vaccination programmes, based on advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.47 The Joint Committee …
We asked what progress had been made in identifying who would be prioritised in the next phase of the vaccine programme and whether those in key services, for example education, transport and those working in supermarkets, would be given priority. …
In September 2020, NHSE&I estimated that it could need up to 46,000 additional staff to deliver the COVID-19 vaccination programme, including 26,000 vaccinators and 20,000 administrative staff. It planned to fill these posts through a combination of existing primary care …
The NHSE&I concluded that it was not possible to deliver both the COVID-19 and seasonal flu vaccinations solely through existing arrangements such as GP practices and community pharmacies. In response, it developed three new delivery models to take account of …
NHSE&I recognised that its goal of vaccinating the top four priority groups by mid- February was a huge task.67 We noted that it would be essential for Departments to be clear in the language they used to describe progress with …
When it was first rolled-out, the vaccine programme included a three-week break between people receiving their first and second doses. In December 2020, the Government announced that the second dose of the vaccine would be administered 12 weeks after the …
In 2019–20 the long-established seasonal flu vaccination programme had a take-up rate of 72% among those aged 65 years and older, and up to 45% for those aged 64 years or younger. NHSE&I explained that it was using the flu …
PHE recognised that people trust their local GP, local faith groups and community groups so public health organisations and local government will have an important role to play to encourage people to take-up the vaccine. Flu vaccination programmes have also …
The number of people who choose to have the vaccine will ultimately be determined by public trust in the vaccines.78 Our previous reports have shown the importance of clear and consistent communication and that a lack of information during the …
Research commissioned by PHE showed that about two-thirds of the population were very likely to take-up the vaccine, around 10% were unlikely, and the rest were uncertain. For those who were uncertain or unlikely to have the vaccine, efficacy and …
We were concerned by reports of confusion among health professionals and the public about what to expect from the vaccine programme and when. We asked NHSE&I how it was ensuring clear lines of communication so that people had access to …
In its written evidence to us, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics noted that COVID-19 had a disproportionate impact on groups who already had unmet health needs, such as poorer and BAME communities, those living in care and those with learning …
We acknowledge that a large part of the success to date into the development of covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics can be credited to lessons learned from previous outbreaks and efforts made to prepare for future crises. As further promising vaccine …