As of 16 January 2022, 67.2% of adults aged 18 years old and over and 62.7% of those aged 12 years old and over in Southport had received a booster or third dose. As of 22 January 2022, 60.5% of adults aged 18 years old and over and 55.8% of people aged 12 years old and over in the North West had received a booster or third dose.

The UK Health Security Agency has secured hundreds of millions of additional lateral flow device tests, to allow a 200% increase in testing supply prior to the Omicron variant. We have accelerated manufacture and delivery timelines which has doubled the total delivery capacity with Royal Mail to 900,000 test packs and polymerase chain reaction tests per day for home delivery. We have also increased the availability of tests at pharmacies and for local authorities. We plan to distribute over 90 million tests across the United Kingdom per week.

There are a range of prices available to consumers. Since international travel testing requirements were introduced, the average cost of a day two polymerase chain reaction test has decreased to £45 and tests are regularly available from approximately £20. For United Kingdom residents or individuals with residency rights who would suffer severe financial hardship by paying the full cost of their testing fees before they travel, hardship arrangements may be available.

General practitioners and community pharmacists are responsible for ordering flu vaccine to deliver the national flu programme to adults, including the elderly and clinically vulnerable. We have issued guidance asking all providers to order sufficient vaccine to at least equal the levels of uptake achieved in 2020/21. The Department is also in regular contact with vaccine manufacturers to ensure there are sufficient amounts of flu vaccines available in the system to vaccinate eligible cohorts.

From 4 October we are extending our inbound vaccination policy to 17 new countries and we continue to work with international partners to explore further expansion of the policy.

The vaccination programme is developing an overseas vaccine service to support English citizens and residents. This will enable these vaccination events to appear in the national vaccine database and general practitioner records. The devolved administrations are considering establishing similar solutions. This service will be piloted by the end of September for wider deployment in early October. It will initially support the four vaccines recognised by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and administered within the jurisdiction of a recognised medical regulator.

The vaccination programme is developing an overseas vaccine service to support English citizens and residents. This will enable these vaccination events to appear in the national vaccine database and general practitioner records. The devolved administrations are considering establishing similar solutions. This will support those who have been vaccinated overseas and travelling for work who require a NHS COVID Pass. It will initially support the four vaccines recognised by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and administered within the jurisdiction of a recognised medical regulator.