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Written question asked by Stephen Doughty (Labour) on Monday, 18 January 2021, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 21 January 2021 (named day). It was answered by Nadhim Zahawi (Conservative) on Thursday, 21 January 2021 on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the decision by Pfizer to make changes to manufacturing processes of its covid-19 vaccine to boost production will affect the distribution of that vaccine to the UK from late January to early February 2021.

Answer

Vaccines are a precious resource and are in very high demand across the world; therefore, for security reasons it is not possible to provide detail about the size of our supplies or give exact detail about future deliveries.

We have been monitoring the requirements across the supply chain from supplier through to patients for some time. All vaccine candidates’ supply and onward deployment have clear supply chain plans across the value chain, including materials, manufacturing, transportation, storage, and distribution.

As of 18 January 2021, over 4.6 million people in the UK had been vaccinated with the first dose of the vaccine. We are in the process of understanding the implications of Pfizer’s announcement on 15 January regarding upgrades to its manufacturing capacity. We continue to work to meet our target of vaccinating all four priority groups, as advised by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, by the middle of February.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
139002
Session
2019-21
Transferred
Yes
Subjects
Disease control Manufacturing industries Production Vaccination Pfizer Coronavirus
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk