To ask His Majesty's Government why, given that Evusheld has been approved for private prescription, it has not yet been approved for prescription on the NHS.

The Government has decided not to procure Evusheld for prevention through emergency routes at this time. This is based on independent clinical advice by the multi-agency RAPID C-19 and a United Kingdom national expert policy working group, which concluded that there is insufficient evidence of benefit to recommend deployment.

While the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency gave a Conditional Marketing Authorisation to Evusheld in March 2022, it did so noting that there a lack of data on its response to the Omicron variant. AstraZeneca has made Evusheld available privately in the UK, which is a matter for individual patients and their healthcare providers. It is distinct from any Government consideration of its use within the National Health Service.