UK Inquiry Tracker

COVID-19: Planning for the vaccine (part 1)

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 17 Dec 2020 Closed: 19 Apr 2021 Parliament page

Since the first cases of COVID-19 in the UK in January 2020, the impact on society and the economy has been significant. Government’s overall objective since May has been “to return to life as close to normal as possible, for as many people as possible, as fast and fairly as … Read more Since the first cases of COVID-19 in the UK in January 2020, the impact on society and the economy has been significant. Government’s overall objective since May has been “to return to life as close to normal as possible, for as many people as possible, as fast and fairly as possible”. A vaccination programme plays a central role in achieving this objective. Extremely high global demand, coupled with the scarcity of vaccine resources, has put added pressure on government to make fast-paced decisions to secure access to potential vaccines, and to quickly build the capacity to manufacture and deploy them. On 2 December 2020, the first vaccine for use in the UK was approved by the regulator and deployment began on 8 December. This first inquiry on the development and roll out of a Covid-19 vaccine covers the period from April to 8 December 2020 and examines government’s approach and progress in securing potential vaccines and determining how they will be deployed to the public. The UK government has worked quickly to secure potential COVID-19 vaccines, successfully signing deals for five vaccines providing up to 267 million doses at an expected cost of £2.9 billion. The total cost to the taxpayer of government’s efforts to purchase and deploy vaccines is uncertain. The current estimate is up to £11.7 billion which includes the costs of purchasing and manufacturing vaccines for the UK, deploying them in England and investing in global efforts to purchase vaccines. Many pharmaceutical companies requested immunity in the event of liabilities or legal action relating to their vaccines, meaning the taxpayer may have to pay the costs of claims against them. In four out of the five contracts agreed so far, no cap has been applied to the amount that government could pay in the event of a successful claim against the pharmaceutical companies. NHSE&I is planning a vaccination programme with high levels of uncertainty because information about the COVID-19 vaccines is constantly changing. Each potential vaccine requires different plans for rolling it out to the public because each has different characteristics. These include the temperature it should be stored at, its shelf-life once open, and how it should be prepared before it is administered. In September 2020 NHSE&I calculated that if every adult in England needed to be vaccinated with two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, its vaccination workload would increase by 740%. NHSE&I calculated that it may need up to 46,000 staff consisting of 26,000 vaccinators and 20,000 administrative staff to deliver the COVID-19 vaccination programme based on a 75% take-up rate. As at 8 December 2020, NHSE&I’s planning assumption is that it could vaccinate up to 25 million people with two doses throughout 2021. The Committee will question senior officials at the Department for Business, the Department for Health and Social Care, the NHS including the Vaccine Taskforce, and Public Health England. If you have evidence on this first stage of the UK’s vaccination programme – sourcing and preparing the first Covid19 vaccine - please submit it here by 6pm on Tuesday 5 January 2021 Show less

7 Recommendations

24 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

9 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 12 events

3 Sep
2021

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Forty-third report from Session 2019-21

14 May
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Sarah Munby, Permanent Secretary, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, re Response to the Committee…

20 Apr
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Sir Chris Wormald KCB, Permanent Secretary, Department of Health and Social Care, re The panning for a Vaccine (Part 1)…

16 Apr
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from letter from Sir Chris Wormald KCB, Permanent Secretary, Department for Health and Social Care, and Sarah Munby, Permane…

16 Apr
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Sarah Munby, Permanent Secretary, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, re Response to the Committee…

16 Mar
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from NHS Chief Executive, Sir Simon Stevens, re Follow up to the Public Accounts Committee Oral Evidence Session on Covid- …

8 Mar
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Sarah Munby, Permanent Secretary Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, re Planning for a vaccine Par…

25 Feb
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Sir Chris Wormald KCB, Permanent Secretary, Department of Health and Social Care, re 11 Jan hearing on Covid 19 vaccine…

12 Feb
2021

Report published

Forty-Third Report - COVID-19: Planning for a vaccine Part 1

1 Feb
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Michael Brodie, Interim Chief Executive, Public Health England, re COVID-19: Planning for a vaccine (part 1), dated 25 …

13 Jan
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Sarah Munby, Permanent Secretary, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Sir Chris Wormald, Perman…

11 Jan
2021

Oral evidence

COVID-19: Planning for a vaccine (part 1)

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

11 Jan 2021

View on parliament.uk

COVID-19: Planning for a vaccine (part 1)

Emily Lawson · NHS England and NHS Improvement Kate Bingham · UK Vaccine Taskforce Michael Brodie · NHS Business Service Authority Nick Elliott · Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Sarah Munby · Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Sir Chris Wormald · Department of Health and Social Care Sir Simon Stevens · NHS England and NHS Improvement

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Forty-Third Report - COVID-19: Planning for a vaccine Part 1	HC 930	12 Feb 2021	31	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

1 result

9 Recommendation Accepted in Part

Forty-Third Report - COVID-19: Pla…

Our report on Government’s procurement and supply of personal protective equipment during the pandemic found...

Our report on Government’s procurement and supply of personal protective equipment during the pandemic found that a failure to be transparent had opened up Government to accusations of poor value for money, conflicts of interest and preferential treatment of some … Read more Our report on Government’s procurement and supply of personal protective equipment during the pandemic found that a failure to be transparent had opened up Government to accusations of poor value for money, conflicts of interest and preferential treatment of some suppliers, and risked undermining public trust in government procurement and the use of taxpayers’ money.21 BEIS recognised that the involvement of a range of different people being brought in to support government’s decisions created the potential for conflicts of interest. BEIS and the Taskforce share a register of conflicts of interest between their HR Department and Programme Management Office each week. By December 2020, 38 individuals within the Taskforce had registered at least one conflict of interest.22 We asked the Departments how they were ensuring that conflicts of interest were properly managed. Both the Department and BEIS explained that their approach 14 Qq 99, 112, C&AG’s Report, para 2, 1.1, 3.1–3.2 15 Qq 99–100, 116–117 16 Qq 101–102, C&AG’s Report para 3.1–3.5 17 Qq 109–110, C&AG’s Report, para 3.11 18 Qq 110–114, 118–121 19 Q 109 20 Qq 110–111, 117 21 Committee of Public Accounts, COVID-19: Government procurement and supply of personal protective equipment, HC 928, 10 February 2021 22 Q 106, C&AG’s Report, para 3.7 12 COVID-19: Planning for a vaccine Part 1 was the same as for any other area of their work and that they had standard procedures in place to deal with conflicts of interest.23 BEIS told us that the majority of the conflicts of interests within the Taskforce were attributable to members of staff who had been brought in from the private sector, but that in most cases the potential conflicts of interest were small. It explained that it had needed to scale up its business-as-usual conflicts of interest system to deal with the quantity of people coming in, but that this was “not particularly because they have been more conflicted that usual, but because there have been more of the Show less

Government Response

The government agrees with the implied recommendation on transparency and conflicts of interest, outlining process improvements for decision-making, expert appointments, and managing conflicts within the Taskforce, while committing to future consideration of replicating these improvements and reporting lessons learned by April 2021.

HM Treasury

View details

Government Response AI assessment · 31 of 7 classified

Accepted 9

Accepted in Part 1

Acknowledged 1

Not Addressed 20

Total 7 recs + 24 conclusions

Correspondence 9 letters

14 May 2021 Correspondence from Sarah Munby, Permanent Secretary, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, re Response to the Committee re: Planning for a vaccine Part 1 PAC Report, dated 30 April 2021

Parliament page

20 Apr 2021 Correspondence from Sir Chris Wormald KCB, Permanent Secretary, Department of Health and Social Care, re The panning for a Vaccine (Part 1) PAC hearing, dated 12 April 2021

Parliament page

16 Apr 2021 To committee Correspondence from letter from Sir Chris Wormald KCB, Permanent Secretary, Department for Health and Social Care, and Sarah Munby, Permanent Secretary, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, re Panning for a Vaccine Part 1 PAC hearing, dated 7 April 2021

Parliament page

16 Apr 2021 Correspondence from Sarah Munby, Permanent Secretary, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, re Response to the Committee re: Planning for a vaccine Part 1 PAC Report, dated 31 March 2021

Parliament page

16 Mar 2021 Correspondence from NHS Chief Executive, Sir Simon Stevens, re Follow up to the Public Accounts Committee Oral Evidence Session on Covid- 19 Vaccines, dated 11 February 2021

Parliament page

8 Mar 2021 Correspondence from Sarah Munby, Permanent Secretary Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, re Planning for a vaccine Part 1 PAC Report, dated 26 February 2021

Parliament page

25 Feb 2021 Correspondence from Sir Chris Wormald KCB, Permanent Secretary, Department of Health and Social Care, re 11 Jan hearing on Covid 19 vaccine planning, dated 18 February 2021

Parliament page

1 Feb 2021 Correspondence from Michael Brodie, Interim Chief Executive, Public Health England, re COVID-19: Planning for a vaccine (part 1), dated 25 January 2021

Parliament page

13 Jan 2021 Correspondence from Sarah Munby, Permanent Secretary, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Sir Chris Wormald, Permanent Secretary, Department of Health and Social Care, re COVID-19 Indemnities, dated 31 December 2020

Parliament page