Recommendations & Conclusions
8 items
5
Recommendation
Eleventh Report - The rollout of the CO…
Rejected
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 aimed to optimise the chances of success in securing access …
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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 aimed to optimise the chances of success in securing access to vaccines at a time of huge uncertainty. Out of the original portfolio of seven candidates, six have been approved for use in the UK to date, with three—AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna— actually deployed. However, the only new contracts the UK signed in 2021 were The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine programme in England 7 with Pfizer and Moderna, both manufacturers of mRNA vaccines. The Vaccine Taskforce is confident that these remain the most effective choice for boosters and will provide the UK with access to reformulations against emerging variant viruses, if required. However uncertainty remains, which the original portfolio strategy was designed to mitigate. While the UK will be likely to continue to need 6- or 12-month COVID-19 booster campaigns for at-risk groups, there is much uncertainty about, for example, the emergence of new variants and what kind of vaccines might be needed in future. The COVID-19 vaccine market is also still very much a developing market and consequently volatile. Recommendation: The Department and the Vaccine Taskforce should urgently review the future procurement strategy for COVID-19 vaccines, seeking all necessary clinical and commercial expertise, to ensure that future contracts are not let to too narrow a set of providers. It should report the results of the work in detail to the Committee.
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Government response AI summary
The government disagrees with the recommendation to review the future procurement strategy for COVID-19 vaccines, stating that the current strategy is kept under constant review with expert advice. They cite agreements with developers that give access to updated vaccines and bivalent vaccines having received regulatory …
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HM Treasury
10
Recommendation
Eleventh Report - The rollout of the CO…
Rejected
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 ill, needing to go to hospital, or dying because of …
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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 ill, needing to go to hospital, or dying because of COVID-19.23 Consequently these people are at 14 RCP0006 Note dated March 2022 from Royal College of Nursing point 3.2 15 Committee of Public Accounts, Government preparedness for the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons for government on risk, Forty-Sixth Report of Session 2021–22, HC 952, 23 March 2022, page 1, 7 16 Qq 29, 30 17 Qq 29, 48 18 RCP0006 Note dated March 2022 from Royal College of Nursing point 3.3 19 Q 41 20 DHSC, Joint statement from the UK government, CEPI, IFPMA, ABPI, BIA, BIO and DCVMN on delivering the 100 day mission, 8 March 2022. 21 Qq 49–52 22 Q 39, 48 23 UKHSA’s report, COVID-19 vaccine surveillance report: week 14, 7 April 2022 12 The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine programme in England greater risk of coming to harm than if they had been vaccinated. Additionally, a further 1.5 million people had only had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while uptake of first boosters, for which all adults are eligible, stood at 73% (32.6 million people).24
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Government response AI summary
The government disagrees with the recommendation to set a challenge to reduce the number of unvaccinated adults to 2.5 million and achieve 80% booster uptake, arguing it is moving away from target-based approaches.
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HM Treasury
11
Recommendation
Eleventh Report - The rollout of the CO…
Rejected
We asked officials about their strategy with regard to the unvaccinated. UKHSA and NHS England told us that the basic public health message remained clear—that everyone was encouraged to get vaccinated—and that they continued to work with local government, local public health experts and community leaders to target the unvaccinated …
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We asked officials about their strategy with regard to the unvaccinated. UKHSA and NHS England told us that the basic public health message remained clear—that everyone was encouraged to get vaccinated—and that they continued to work with local government, local public health experts and community leaders to target the unvaccinated population.25 Written evidence from the Royal College of Nursing supported these goals but also suggested that there was a need for more work to ensure that all population groups had ready access to and felt trust in the vaccine.26
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Government response AI summary
The government disagrees with the Committee's recommendation to reduce the number of unvaccinated adults to 2.5 million, stating that it will continue to focus on reaching out to the unvaccinated but will move away from setting targets.
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HM Treasury
12
Recommendation
Eleventh Report - The rollout of the CO…
Rejected
NHS England said it had built on approaches recommended by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies and the World Health Organisation to achieve the excellent uptake to date.27 But it acknowledged that the country was no longer in a state of emergency and that many restrictions had now been lifted. …
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NHS England said it had built on approaches recommended by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies and the World Health Organisation to achieve the excellent uptake to date.27 But it acknowledged that the country was no longer in a state of emergency and that many restrictions had now been lifted. Consequently, it agreed that vaccination may have become a lower priority for many people.28 UKHSA noted that, although the basic message remained unchanged, individuals now found themselves with a wide range of different vaccination statuses (from no doses to one, two, three or even four doses). This could make it more complex to frame and target appropriate media campaigns to improve uptake.29
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Government response AI summary
The government disagrees with the Committee's recommendation to reduce the number of unvaccinated adults to 2.5 million, stating that it will continue to focus on reaching out to the unvaccinated but will move away from setting targets.
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HM Treasury
18
Conclusion
Eleventh Report - The rollout of the CO…
Rejected
As part of an earlier inquiry in January 2021, the Taskforce told us how its portfolio strategy aimed to “optimise the chances of success” in securing access to vaccines at a time of huge uncertainty about whether effective vaccines were even feasible.42 The strategy worked well, giving the UK access …
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As part of an earlier inquiry in January 2021, the Taskforce told us how its portfolio strategy aimed to “optimise the chances of success” in securing access to vaccines at a time of huge uncertainty about whether effective vaccines were even feasible.42 The strategy worked well, giving the UK access to the earliest vaccines to complete clinical trials and come to market.43
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Government response AI summary
The government explicitly disagrees with the committee's observation (interpreted as an implied recommendation to continue the exact same strategy). It states that while the portfolio approach was right initially, the strategy is now kept under constant review and adapts to new information and variants.
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HM Treasury
19
Recommendation
Eleventh Report - The rollout of the CO…
Rejected
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 the UK and also that the only new contracts …
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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 the UK and also that the only new contracts signed in 2021 were with Pfizer and Moderna.45 The UK’s vaccine supply for 2022 and 2023 now relies primarily on just these two companies, both manufacturers of mRNA vaccines.46
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Government response AI summary
The government disagrees with the recommendation to review the future procurement strategy for COVID-19 vaccines, stating that the current strategy is kept under constant review with expert advice. They cite agreements with developers that give access to updated vaccines and bivalent vaccines having received regulatory …
Read full response →
HM Treasury
20
Recommendation
Eleventh Report - The rollout of the CO…
Rejected
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 UK has not procured. We asked the Taskforce what …
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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 UK has not procured. We asked the Taskforce what it was doing to protect the UK against such risks. It agreed that it had indeed ended up with a narrow set of suppliers. But it considered that, in spite of continuing uncertainties, it had adequate provisions to access timely variant vaccines for the UK at fixed prices, thereby protecting taxpayers against rising global prices.47
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Government response AI summary
The government disagrees with the recommendation, stating that the portfolio approach was the right strategy in the early stages of the pandemic, and the vaccine procurement strategy is kept under constant review.
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HM Treasury
21
Recommendation
Eleventh Report - The rollout of the CO…
Rejected
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 and how they work.48 The Taskforce was confident that the …
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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 and how they work.48 The Taskforce was confident that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines remained the most effective choice for boosters and that they would provide access to reformulations against emerging variant viruses if and when required.49 We note that the approval of the Valneva vaccine happened after the UK government cancelled its contract with Valneva.50 The Taskforce had previously told us it had procured this vaccine specifically because it used a different technology to provide a “broader range of immune response”.51 Deployment and workforce planning
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Government response AI summary
The government disagrees with the recommendation to review the future procurement strategy for COVID-19 vaccines, arguing that the current portfolio approach is constantly reviewed with clinical and commercial expertise.
Read full response →
HM Treasury