Public Health publications and advertising concerning Flu and COVID-19 vaccines

​​​​​​​​Request 791553783

Please provide the following information in relation to current Public Health publications and advertising concerning Flu and COVID-19 vaccines: 

A. Approval and Governance 

Who is responsible for approving Public Health publications on Flu and COVID-19 vaccines, including all written materials and vaccine advertising that feature or reference the Director of Public Health. 

Please identify the roles, departments, or committees involved in approval and sign-off. 

B. Drafting, Authorisation, and Verification of Public Statements 

Who drafted and authorised the winter 2025 Les Clefs vaccine advertising. 

By what evidential, governance, and quality assurance processes were statements regarding vaccine safety and claims that vaccine safety is “closely monitored” verified for accuracy prior to publication. 

Please identify who was responsible for conducting this verification and what sources of evidence or data were relied upon. 

C. Claims Regarding “Rigorous Testing” 

Who confirmed and authorised the statement that COVID-19 vaccines underwent the “same rigorous testing” as other vaccines.

How is “rigorous testing” defined for the purposes of public health communications, and who determined that this standard was met. 

What assessment, if any, was undertaken of the actual clinical trial design, testing conditions, regulatory pathways, and post-authorisation safety monitoring in order to substantiate this claim. 

D. Safety Monitoring and the Yellow Card Scheme: 

Whether the passive adverse event reporting system (the Yellow Card scheme) is considered sufficient to support public statements that vaccine safety is “closely monitored,” noting that the MHRA has publicly acknowledged that the Yellow Card scheme is subject to significant underreporting due to its passive nature. 

If the Yellow Card scheme alone is not considered sufficient, please clarify what additional monitoring mechanisms are relied upon to support this claim.

Please identify who is responsible for assessing adverse event and safety data at a local level, how this information is reviewed, and where responsibility and accountability for vaccine safety monitoring sits within local Public Health governance. 

E. Consideration of Trial Methodology and First Hand Evidence: 

In relation to the statement that COVID-19 vaccines underwent the same rigorous testing, please state whether those responsible for verifying public statements reviewed the outputs and limitations of the clinical trials underpinning COVID-19 vaccine authorisation in conjunction with those for other vaccines, as implied by the claim that the testing was the same.

Response

A

Public Health publications are drafted by the Public Health Communications Team and the Immunisation Team. Approval sits with the Immunisation Team, Senior Health Protection Nurse Advisor and Director of Public Health.

B

This was an advertorial drafted in 2024 that was reviewed and updated for 2025 by the Public Health Communications Team and approved as detailed above.

All vaccines used in the U.K. and Jersey vaccination programme were approved by the U.K. medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The 2025 COVID-19 and influenza vaccines were approved for use in humans by the MHRA. It is the role of the MHRA to regulate medicines, including vaccines, supplied in the U.K.; this spans the whole of a medicine’s lifecycle. Decisions are made on whether medicines should be granted licences (also known as Marketing Authorisations) and whether licences can be varied as information about the medicines develop, based on safety, quality and effectiveness data submitted to the MHRA. Vaccines are then used in accordance with guidance issued by the U.K. Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). Information surrounding the governance may be found at the following links.

About us - Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency - GOV.UK

Coronavirus vaccine - summary of Yellow Card reporting - GOV.UK

Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation - GOV.UK​

It is the role of the MHRA to regulate medicines, including vaccines, supplied in the U.K.

C

As noted above, Public Health publications are drafted by the Public Health Communications Team and the Immunisation Team. Approval sits with the Immunisation Team, Senior Health Protection Nurse Advisor and Director of Public Health.

The Director of Public Health, Professor Bradley, is quoted in the advertorial as follows:

“COVID-19 vaccines went through the same rigorous testing as other vaccines but was done at speed thanks to advancements in technology. These vaccines have been administered to hundreds of millions of people, with their safety closely monitored.”

This statement is in line with information such as that issued by the MHRA; in relation to COVID-19 vaccines, the MHRA has authorised their supply following a rigorous review of their safety, quality and efficacy. As part of its statutory functions, the MHRA is responsible for monitoring all vaccines on an ongoing basis to ensure their benefits continue to outweigh any risks. This is a requirement for all authorised medicines and vaccines in the U.K. This monitoring strategy is continuous, proactive and based on a wide range of information sources, with a dedicated team of scientists reviewing information daily to look for safety issues or unexpected, rare events.

Coronavirus vaccine - summary of Yellow Card reporting - GOV.UK ​

This report summarises information received via the Yellow Card scheme as well as any safety investigations carried out by the MHRA under the COVID-19 Vaccine Surveillance Strategy.

Assessments have relied upon information gathered when COVID-19 vaccines underwent rigorous assessments, including randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 3 trials and expedited data-intensive ‘rolling reviews’ by regulators like the European Medicines Agency, which evaluated safety and efficacy data:

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) | European Medicines Agency (EMA) ​

Post-authorisation surveillance continues through pharmacovigilance networks to monitor safety: 

Clinical trials applications for Coronavirus (COVID-19) - GOV.UK 

Coronavirus » Standard operating procedure: Phases 1, 2 and 3 including vaccination of eligible children and young people

COVID-19 vaccination programme: information for healthcare practitioners - GOV.UK ​

Coronavirus vaccine - summary of Yellow Card reporting - GOV.UK​

D

The questions on the sufficiency of the MHRA Yellow Card reporting system are seeking comment / opinion. Freedom of Information is a mechanism to enable access to information held in recorded form by a Scheduled Public Authority, rather than to pose questions requiring comment, speculation or explanation.

As noted in a Freedom of Information response published in March 2025 (which can be found at gov.je/government/freedomofinformation/pages/foi.aspx?ReportID=8380), information is available through www.gov.je on Jersey’s use of the national MHRA Yellow Card scheme, and on Health and Care Jersey’s Electronic Prescribing Medicines Administration system’s capabilities to identify drug interactions, as well as the recording of allergies and adverse reactions to drugs and responsibility for local monitoring / review. Links are provided below, and Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied in respect of the information available elsewhere.

gov.je/government/freedomofinformation/pages/foi.aspx?ReportID=7094

gov.je/government/freedomofinformation/pages/foi.aspx?ReportID=7788

gov.je/government/freedomofinformation/pages/foi.aspx?ReportID=5170​

The March 2025 response also highlighted that Quality and Safety indicators and performance measures are reported in the Health and Care Jersey Quality and Performance Reports, the Health and Care Jersey Advisory Board papers, and the Health and Care Jersey Quality Accounts (produced annually), linked below:

Health and Care Jersey Quality and Performance Reports

Health and Care Jersey Services Board

Health and Community Services Quality Account 2023​

E

Please see the response to the questions on ‘Approval and Governance’ (A) above.

Article applied

Article 23 Information accessible to applicant by other means 

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge. 

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.​