Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (): I am tabling this statement for the
benefit of Honourable and Right Honourable members to bring to
their attention the contingent liabilities relating to the
contract signed between Her Majesty’s Government (hereafter HMG)
and AstraZeneca/Oxford for their COVID-19 vaccine.
On 29 December, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory
Authority (MHRA) gave their authorisation for use of the COVID-19
vaccine being manufactured by AstraZeneca/Oxford. With deployment
of this vaccine beginning next week I am now updating the House
on the liabilities HMG has taken on in relation to this vaccine
via this statement and attached Departmental Minute.
The agreement to provide an indemnity as part of the contract
between HMG and AstraZeneca/Oxford creates a contingent liability
on the COVID-19 vaccination programme, and I will be laying a
Departmental Minute today containing a description of the
liability undertaken.
It has been and is the Government’s strategy to manage COVID-19
until an effective vaccine/s can be deployed at scale.
Willingness to accept appropriate indemnities has helped to
secure access to vaccines with the expected benefits to public
health and the economy alike much sooner than may have been the
case otherwise.
Given the exceptional circumstances we are in, and the terms on
which developers are willing to supply a COVID-19 vaccine, we
have had to take a broader approach to indemnification than we
usually would. Global approaches differ, but we are aware that
many other nation states are offering indemnities as part of
their contractual arrangements, or other means e.g. the US PREP
Act, which provides immunity from liability to vaccine
developers.
Even though the COVID-19 vaccines have been developed at pace, at
no point and at no stage of development has safety been bypassed.
The independent MHRA’s approval for use of the AstraZeneca/Oxford
vaccine clearly demonstrates that this vaccine has satisfied, in
full, all the necessary requirements for safety, effectiveness,
and quality. We are providing indemnities in the very unexpected
event of any adverse reactions that could not have been foreseen
through the robust checks and procedures that have been put in
place.
Developing a vaccination against COVID-19 has been an
extraordinary feat which has been delivered at great pace. Given
the pace of vaccine development and our ambition to deploy the
vaccine as soon as it has been authorised, it has not been
possible to provide you with normal 14 sitting days to consider
this issue of contingent liabilities.
I will update the House in a similar manner as and when other
COVID-19 vaccines are deployed.
