Review of measures for COVID-19 and flu vaccine programmes

Temporary measures for COVID-19 and flu vaccine programme to be extended or made permanent through new consultation

 

From:

Department of Health and Social Care and Maggie Throup MP

• Regulations were amended on a temporary basis in autumn last year to scale up vaccine programme

A raft of temporary measures put in place at the height of the pandemic will be considered as the government launches a consultation today on proposals to maintain the pace and scale of the vaccine rollout.

The government is seeking views to make some measures permanent, and

give others a further temporary period of operation, in order to continue to support the safe and effective roll out of the UK’s influenza and COVID-19 vaccination and booster programmes.

These measures concern the authorisation, movement and sale of vaccines and have supported the successful vaccination programmes by:

• Increasing the available vaccinator workforce;

• Allowing vaccines to be moved between certain premises without the need for wholesale dealer licenses;

• Enabling final preparation and labelling to take place without additional marketing authorisations or manufacturer’s licences; and

• Enabling pharmacies to run vaccination service from premises other than their registered premises.

Vaccines Minister Maggie Throup said:

Over the past year, these temporary measures have helped enable the NHS to deliver over 120 million vaccines across this country.

By bedding in this suite of options we can continue to make it quicker and easier for people to safely access COVID-19 and flu vaccines to protect themselves and the people around them.

A consultation is being launched today on the amendments made to the Human Medicine Regulations 2012 last year and will last three weeks.

The Human Medicine Regulations 2012 set out a comprehensive system for the authorisation of medicinal products; for the manufacture, import, distribution, sale and supply of those products; for their labelling and advertising; and for pharmacovigilance. They also provide for enforcement powers for the authorisation and supervision of medicinal products.

• Find the full consultation here