, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to
Matt Hancock’s answer to an Urgent Question on the vaccine
roll-out, said:
Mr Speaker, yesterday I visited the vaccination centre at
Leicester racecourse. It was inspirational to see the joy on the
faces of those vaccinated and the pride of the staff and
volunteers.
It’s a reminder that when the NHS is in put in charge and tasked
with implementing a large scale project across our communities,
they get on with it and deliver.
Today we have had the latest REACT survey of infections from
Imperial. The findings are alarming. It’s especially concerning
that infections are so high in London. Yet London and the East Of
England appear to behind the rest of country in vaccine roll out.
So what action is being taken to drive up vaccination rates in
London and the East of England?
Can he assure us that he will meet his target to vaccinate all
care home residents by end of the week?
Yesterday the Prime Minister referred to ‘constraints in supply.’
What are these constraints, what guarantees has he got from
manufacturers that they will be resolved and by when?
The Imperial survey also highlights disproportionate infection
rates amongst key workers – those workers will still be going to
work in this lockdown – and the infection rates amongst Black and
Minority Ethnic communities.
So once the nine priority groups are vaccinated will those
occupational groups most exposed teachers, police officers,
firefighter, transport workers and supermarket staff be
prioritised?
There are 11,000 community pharmacies, that mean up to 30,000
pharmacists, at the heart of delivering the vaccine. We should be
using them not just because of the volumes of doses they can
administer, but because they have years of experience of building
trust and vaccine acceptability with hard to reach groups and
minority ethnic communities.
I heard this when speaking pharmacists in Dudley this week. They
also raised concerns about wider supply of consumables needed to
administer the vaccine. Can he guarantee there will be no delays
or shortages in the delivery of this wider kit?
The new variants remind us we have to go further and faster with
vaccination and work harder to break transmission chains. Early
analysis suggests the South African B1351 variant brings a
reinfection risk which may mean we need redesign of the vaccines.
What contingency plans is he putting in place now, should that be
necessary?
Yesterday 1,820 deaths recorded. Truly horrific. Vaccination has
to go hand in hand with measures to suppress the virus.
So can I say directly, not everybody Secretary of State, can
isolate comfortably at home when required. The current system
effectively asks families to go hungry to stop spreading
infection. So can I urge him again to provide decent sick pay and
financial support, to help push infections down.
