Letter regarding the ZOE COVID Study from UKHSA to the general public
Published 31 March 2022
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ukhsa-response-to-zoe-covid-study-enquiries/letter-regarding-the-zoe-covid-study-from-ukhsa-to-the-general-public
Dear Sir or Madam,
Thank you for contacting the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to raise your concerns about the ZOE COVID Study.
Now we have begun a new phase of living with the virus, as outlined in the Living with COVID-19 plan published on 21 February 2022, the government will continue monitoring the virus by maintaining proportionate surveillance studies and other data sources including genomic sequencing.
Throughout the pandemic, the UK government has provided significant additional funding on an emergency basis. Moving forward, UKHSA will continue to carefully allocate its budgets to monitor and mitigate the public health risk from COVID-19 over time.
We now know more than ever before about the virus. UKHSA is extremely grateful for the valuable insights that the ZOE COVID study has provided which, alongside other surveillance work, has informed government decision-making throughout the pandemic. UKHSA wants to thank the study teams and all the participants for supporting this surveillance work during the most demanding public health crisis in living memory. As we move to living with COVID, we have reviewed existing surveillance programmes to maximise effective investment and remove any duplicative outputs. Moving forward, we will therefore no longer be funding a number of studies, including the ZOE Study.
The rationale for ending funding is outlined above and we hope we have been able to respond to your concerns. We are unable to enter into further correspondence on this matter. However, if you are unhappy with how your correspondence has been handled, you can contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman with the support of your MP. The Ombudsman makes final decisions on complaints that have not been resolved by UKHSA. Their service is free and it has guidance on how to take a complaint to the Ombudsman.
Yours sincerely,
The Enquiries Service
Public and Parliamentary Accountability Team
UKHSA