The 2020 Spending Review allocated £15 billion to NHST&T for 2021–22, to be kept under review as the vaccine programme rolled out.77 The government is now accelerating the roll-out of vaccines across the country, but we are yet to see a future strategy for test and trace in response. NHST&T anticipates a continuing need for large-scale testing and tracing alongside the vaccine programme, emphasising that vaccines and test and trace are not “either/or” strategies. The Department noted that the...

The 2020 Spending Review allocated £15 billion to NHST&T for 2021–22, to be kept under review as the vaccine programme rolled out.77 The government is now accelerating the roll-out of vaccines across the country, but we are yet to see a future strategy for test and trace in response. NHST&T anticipates a continuing need for large-scale testing and tracing alongside the vaccine programme, emphasising that vaccines and test and trace are not “either/or” strategies. The Department noted that there were still many unknowns about the vaccine, and that it still needed to think through how best to wind down test 69 C&AG’s Report, para 1.24 70 Qq 16, Type: conclusion | Number: 22 | Response status: under_consideration