PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Coronavirus: Vaccination (6 June 2023)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 May 2023 to Question 185548 on Coronavirus: Vaccination, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of that study’s finding on the Pfizer vaccine and the absolute risk increase of serious adverse events; and whether he has made a comparative assessment of (a) that study's and (b) the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency's estimate of the number of serious adverse events associated with covid-19 vaccination.

Asked by:
Esther McVey (Conservative)

A vaccine will not be authorised by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) unless it meets stringent standards of safety, quality and effectiveness.

The MHRA continuously monitors safety during widespread use of a vaccine. As part of this monitoring role MHRA keeps all available evidence under review, including studies such as the one referenced, published literature and data on vaccine use in the United Kingdom and globally. The MHRA’s position is that the benefits of these vaccines in preventing COVID-19 and serious complications associated with COVID-19 far outweigh any currently known side effects in the majority of patients. A summary of side-effects reported to MHRA under their Yellow Card reporting system after vaccination with COVID vaccines is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-adverse-reactions/coronavirus-vaccine-summary-of-yellow-card-reporting

Answered by:
Maria Caulfield (Conservative)
13 June 2023