Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency

The complainant has requested demographic information about those who have had adverse reactions to the Covid-19 vaccine. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency stated that some of the information was already available elsewhere, but relied upon section 22 (intended for publication) of FOIA in order to withhold the remaining information. During the course of the investigation it subsequently disclosed most of the information. The Commissioner’s decision is that the MHRA has failed to obtain the correct objective reading of element [1] of the request and has therefore breached section 16 of FOIA. The MHRA also failed to disclose information within 20 working days and therefore breached section 10 of FOIA. The Commissioner requires the MHRA to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: issue a fresh response to element [1] of the request based on the interpretation set out in paragraph 20 of this notice.