In June 2022, the Government agreed a heads of terms with Moderna to create a strategic partnership over the next decade. A full contract is being negotiated, subject to approval of a Full Business Case. The proposed partnership, if agreed, will strengthen domestic mRNA capability and equip the United Kingdom to respond to COVID-19 and future health emergencies.

In June 2022, the Government agreed heads of terms with Moderna to create a strategic partnership over the next decade. A full contract is being negotiated with Moderna, subject to approval of a full business case.

In June 2022, the Government agreed heads of terms with Moderna to create a strategic partnership over the next decade. A full contract is being negotiated with Moderna, subject to approval of a full business case.

The Government was pleased to sign the Heads of Terms agreement back in June, and since then has been working at pace with Moderna to negotiate a strategic partnership to support the UK’s vaccine resilience. During this time, relevant Ministers have been regularly kept informed of progress, and will continue to receive full briefings as the contract progresses.

There are no Covid-19 vaccines for under 5s currently approved for use in the UK, and as such we have not specifically procured vaccines for this cohort. The Government will continue monitoring developments and seek the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation going forward.

There are no Covid-19 vaccines for under 5s currently approved for use in the UK, and as such we have not specifically procured vaccines for this cohort. The Government will continue monitoring developments and follow the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation going forward.

We are not able to disclose specific costs of individual vaccines procured to date, as details of contracts between the Government and vaccine manufacturers are commercially sensitive.

The role of the legal framework provided by the TRIPS Agreement has and will continue to provide innovators the confidence to invest in developing health products and technologies and to form collaborative partnerships. This is evidenced with over 300 successful voluntary licensing and technology transfer partnerships, which are contributing to the production of approximately 1.5 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses per month.

We encourage industry to continue forming voluntary licensing and technology transfer partnerships. Working with commercial partners within the existing international IP framework is the most effective way to make use of global capacity to produce life-saving medicines at pace.

Continued collective global efforts will be crucial to address vaccine inequities. The UK has worked from the start of the pandemic to support equitable access, helping to establish a COVAX to support both higher- and lower-income countries secure the vaccines they need. We invested approximately £71 million to help COVAX secure early supply deals with manufacturers and donated £548 million to the COVAX Advanced Market Commitment to support the procurement of vaccines for lower and middle-income economies, making the UK one of the earliest and largest COVAX donors.

The UK Government through Vaccines Taskforce proactively manages its vaccine supply so that all procured doses are either used rapidly by our domestic programme or shared internationally. This is as per our commitment at the G7 to donate 100 million doses by the end of June 2022, with 30m by the end of 2021.

Public Health England (PHE) publishes weekly COVID-19 vaccine surveillance reports which include the latest evidence on vaccine effectiveness against different outcomes. The following table shows the latest summary of evidence on vaccine effectiveness against different outcomes, including transmission, for Pfizer/BioNTech and University of Oxford/AstraZeneca as of 1 July.

Source: Table 3 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccine-surveillance-report

Notes:

1. *High Confidence - Evidence from multiple studies which is consistent and comprehensive
2. **Medium Confidence - Evidence is emerging from a limited number of studies or with a moderately level of uncertainty
3. ***Low Confidence - Little evidence is available at present and results are inconclusive
4. ^effectiveness in reducing symptomatic secondary cases in households of a symptomatic index case

PHE plans to publish vaccine effectiveness data for Moderna when more evidence becomes available.

Alongside our G7 partners, the UK is committed to working internationally on efforts to support our ambitious shared goal of vaccinating the world by the end of 2022. This includes efforts to increase vaccine supply by working with suppliers to boost manufacturing, and develop more sustainable approaches to support COVAX as well as wider future pandemic preparedness.

Building vaccine manufacturing capacity is a long term, capital intensive, and high risk endeavour that will require sustained partnerships for supporting viable business models. We are working with the COVAX Supply Chains and Manufacturing Task Force, multilateral, and industry partners to expand quality and affordable vaccine supplies, smooth supply chains, support better information sharing and match making to increase trusted partnerships for manufacturing. The UK has funded McKinsey to scope opportunities for increasing vaccine manufacturing in Africa, and supported the African Union's Africa Manufacturing summit in April this year. We were also the largest funder of Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) in 2020, which is leading work internationally to increase vaccine manufacturing capacity.

The Yellow Card Scheme is the system used in the United Kingdom for reporting adverse drug reactions (ADRs). This acts as an early warning system for the identification of previously unrecognised adverse reactions and also provides valuable information on recognised ADRs, allowing the Commission on Human Medicines and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to identify and refine the understanding of risk factors that may affect the clinical management of patients.

As of 5 May 2021, 55,716 Yellow Cards have been reported for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine which has administered an estimated 20.1 million doses, or a proportion of 0.277%.

For the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine 167,141 Yellow Cards have been reported against an estimated 30.8 million doses administered, or a proportion of 0.543%.

There have been 1,081 Yellow Cards reported for the Moderna vaccine with an estimated 0.1 million doses administered.

There have been 606 Yellow Cards reported where the brand of the vaccine was not specified.

On 16 April 2021, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has advised that it is preferable for pregnant women in the United Kingdom to be offered the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines where available, as these vaccines currently have the most safety data for use in pregnant women. Since 13 May, pregnant women have been able to book their vaccine appointment through the National Booking Service and will be directed to centres offering Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.

The Medicines Healthcare and Regulatory products Regulatory Authority’s guidance on the authorisation of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, last updated on 15 April, provides advice on the authorisation conditions of the vaccine. Its contra-indications advice states that people who experienced blood clots with low platelet counts after their first AstraZeneca dose should not receive their second dose.

Mixing vaccines is not advised at this time, as evidence on the effects of mixing a two-dose schedule of vaccines is still emerging. Subsequently offering a two-dose schedule of a different vaccine to patients who experienced such blood clots is not advised as the effects of adding such a schedule are unknown. Those who experienced blood clots with low platelet counts from their first AstraZeneca vaccination should talk to their doctor.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are the independent body made up of scientific and clinical experts who advise the Government on which vaccines the United Kingdom should use and provide advice on prioritisation at a population level.

The Government has accepted the JCVI's advice, updated on 19 April, which now indicates that women who are pregnant should be offered vaccination at the same time as non-pregnant women, based on their age and clinical risk group. Clinicians should discuss the risks and benefits of vaccination with the woman, who should be told about the limited evidence of safety for the vaccine in pregnancy. The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are the preferred vaccines for pregnant women of any age, because of more extensive experience of their use in pregnancy. Pregnant women who commenced vaccination with Oxford/AstraZeneca are advised to complete with the same vaccine.

Pregnant women may wish to contact their general practitioner, who will identify the available vaccination centres where the person is able to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines. If a woman finds out she is pregnant after she has started a course of vaccine, she may complete vaccination during pregnancy using the same vaccine product unless contra-indicated. Alternatively, vaccination should be offered as soon as possible after pregnancy.

There is no data on the efficacy of the Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine 12 weeks after the first dose. Given the high effectiveness and durability of responses to the first dose seen in United Kingdom data, it is not expected that protection will reduce rapidly after 12 weeks.