The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social
Care ()
With permission, I would like to make a statement on coronavirus,
but before I do that I wish my shadow opposite number, the hon.
Member for Nottingham North (), a happy
birthday.
Our nation is getting safer every day as more and more people get
protected by the biggest immunisation programme in the history of
our health service. More than 10 million people have now received
their first dose of one of our coronavirus vaccines. That is
almost one in five adults in the United Kingdom. We are
vaccinating at scale, while at the same time retaining a close
focus on the most vulnerable in our society to make sure those at
greater need are at the front of the queue.
I am pleased to inform the House that in the UK we have now
vaccinated almost nine in 10 over-80s, almost nine in 10 over-75s
and more than half of people in their 70s. We have also visited
every eligible care home possible with older residents in England
and offered vaccinations to all their residents and staff. That
means we are currently on track to meet our target of offering a
vaccine to the four most vulnerable groups by mid-February.
That is an incredible effort that has drawn on the hard work of
so many, and I want to just take a moment to thank every single
person who has made this happen: the hundreds of thousands of
volunteers up and down the country, the scientists, our
colleagues in the NHS—the GPs, the doctors, the nurses and the
vaccinators—those in social care, the manufacturers, the local
authorities, the armed forces, the civil servants who work night
and day to make this deployment possible, and anyone else who has
played a part in this hugely logistical endeavour. It really is a
combination of the best of the United Kingdom. At our time of
national need, you have given us a big boost in our fight against
this deadly virus, which remains a big threat to us all.
There are still more than 32,000 covid patients in hospital, and
the level of infection is still alarmingly high, so we must all
stay vigilant and keep our resolve while we keep expanding our
vaccination programme, so that we can get more people protected
even more quickly. We have an ambitious plan to do that. We are
boosting our supply of vaccines and our portfolio now stands at
more than 400 million doses, some of which will be manufactured
in the United Kingdom, and we are opening more vaccination sites,
too. I am pleased to inform the House that 39 new sites have
opened their doors this week, along with 62 more pharmacy-led
sites. That includes a church in Worcester, Selhurst Park—the
home of Crystal Palace football club—and a fire station in
Basingstoke, supported by firefighters and support staff from
Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service.
One of the greatest pleasures for me over the past few months has
been seeing the wide range of vaccination sites that have been
set up right in the heart of our local communities. Cinemas,
mosques, food courts and so many other institutions have now been
transformed into life-saving facilities, giving hope to people
every day. Thanks to that rapid expansion, we have now
established major national infrastructure. There are now 89 large
vaccination centres and 194 sites run by high street pharmacies,
along with 1,000 GP-led services and more than 250 hospital hubs.
Today’s announcement will mean that even more people will live
close to a major vaccination site, so we can make vaccinating the
most vulnerable even quicker and even simpler.
We have always believed in the power of science and ingenuity to
get us through this crisis, and I was pleased earlier this week
to see compelling findings in The Lancet medical journal,
reinforcing the effectiveness of our Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
It showed that the vaccine provides sustained protection of 76%
during the 12-week interval between the first and second dose,
and that the vaccine seems likely to reduce transmission to
others by two thirds. That is really great news for us all, but
we will not rest on our laurels.
No one is really safe until the whole world is safe. Our
scientific pioneers will keep innovating, so that we can help the
whole world in our collective fight against this virus. I saw how
wonderful and powerful this ingenuity could be when I was one of
thousands of volunteers who took part in the Novavax clinical
trial, which published very promising results a few days ago.
Today, I am pleased to announce another clinical trial—a
world-first study that will help to cement the UK’s position as a
global hub for vaccination research. This trial will look at
whether different vaccines can be safely used for a two-dose
regime in the future to support a more flexible programme of
immunisation. I want to reinforce that this is a year-long study,
and there are no current plans to change our existing vaccination
programme, which will continue to use the same doses. But it will
perform a vital role, helping the world to understand whether
different vaccines can be safely used. Our scientists have played
a pivotal part in our response to this deadly virus, and once
again they are leading the way, helping us to learn more about
this virus and how we should respond.
It has been heart-warming to see how excited so many people have
been to get their vaccine and to see the work taking place in
local communities to encourage people to come forward to get
their jab. Hon. Members have an important role to play too. I was
heartened to see colleagues from both sides of the House coming
together to encourage take-up within minority ethnic communities
through two joint videos posted on social media last week. As the
video rightly says, “MPs don’t agree all the time, but on taking
the vaccination, we do.” I could not agree more, and I am
grateful to every single Member who has come forward to support
this national effort. We want to make it as easy as possible for
colleagues to do so. This week, we published a new resource for
Members that provides more information on the vaccine roll-out
and what colleagues can do to increase the take-up of the vaccine
in their constituencies. That is an extremely valuable resource,
and I urge all Members to take a look at it and think about what
they can do in their constituencies.
Our vaccination programme is our way out of this pandemic. Even
though the programme is accelerating rapidly and, as the chief
medical officer said yesterday, we appear to be past the peak,
this remains a deadly virus, and it will take time for the impact
of vaccinations to be felt. So for now, we must all stand firm
and keep following the steps that we know make a big difference
until the science can make us safe. I commend this statement to
the House.
Madam Deputy Speaker ( )
Happy birthday to the hon. Member for Nottingham North ().
12:47:00
(Nottingham
North) (Lab/Co-op)
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am grateful to the Minister
for advance sight of his statement and for his kind words about
my birthday. Of course, the gladdest tidings is the news that
more than 10 million people have received their first dose. Once
again, our incredible national health service has delivered for
us. I visited a site in Nottingham earlier in the week, and that
team of the NHS, armed forces, local councils, volunteers and
many more coming together was an uplifting and incredible sight.
We welcome today’s announcement about the new clinical trial. It
is clear that we will live with covid-19 and its mutations for a
long time, so this is the best way to get out in front of it. We
were glad also to hear the study results regarding the
Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine reducing transmission and maintaining
protection over 12 weeks. As the Minister said, it is clear that
vaccines are the way out of this pandemic. Daily cases are
beginning to fall, but it is vital that the Government do not
repeat previous mistakes and take their foot off the gas just as
things look to be getting better. Could the Minister update us on
whether he expects similar trial data to be published for the
Pfizer vaccine?
The Government seem to be on track to deliver on their promise of
vaccinating the top four Joint Committee on Vaccination and
Immunisation priority groups by the middle of this month. We
really welcome that, and I commend the Minister’s work in that
regard, but in a spirit of co-operation, I need to press him on a
couple of points about what comes next.
First, regarding data, we are all concerned about the reports of
lagging take-up among black, Asian and minority ethnic
communities, as well as poorer communities, and I associate
myself with the comments about the brilliant work done by our
colleagues to fight that. We know that these groups have been
worst affected by the pandemic, and we need them to take up the
vaccine, but I am conscious that much of what we hear is based on
anecdotal stories, rather than hard data at a community level,
split by ethnicity. Can the Minister say what data he has on that
and when colleagues can get council ward-level data, so that we
can all be part of the effort to drive up take-up? As the first
phase is coming to an end, can the Minister update us on the
number of care home staff who have received their first dose and
perhaps what the plan is to encourage those who have not done so
to take it up on reflection?
When we get to the beginning of April, those who have had their
first dose will be expecting and needing their second one. Can
the Minister give an assurance that there will be enough supply
to ensure that everyone who is due their second dose gets it, as
well as, obviously, to manage those who are due their first? The
Foreign Secretary would not offer that commitment on behalf of
the Government recently. I hope the Vaccine Minister will be able
to.
Colleagues have raised with me the fact that constituents who
have received a national letter and called 119 to book are not
routinely being offered local primary care network-based options.
Can the Minister confirm that that should not be the case and
that he would welcome hearing examples of where that is happening
so that we can change it?
The Opposition fully supported the Government in prioritising
those at greatest risk of dying—those in the first four
categories—but as we move to categories 5 to 9, it is reasonable
to ask the JCVI about including key workers. Data has shown that
those who work closely with others and are regularly exposed to
covid-19 have higher death rates than the rest of the population.
By prioritising those workers alongside the over-50s and 60s, and
people with underlying health conditions, we can reduce
transmission further, protect more people and keep the vital
services that they provide running smoothly, which includes
reopening schools. Putting the politics of this to one side, we
raised this suggestion over a week ago now. Will the Minister say
whether he has had those conversations with the JCVI, or whether
he will at least commit to asking it to look at how that
suggestion might work?
It is HIV Testing Week. Those living with HIV are in category 6.
If their doctor knows their HIV status, they will have their
opportunity as planned. However, some choose, perfectly
legitimately and for some profoundly important reasons, to access
their healthcare through other means, such as an HIV clinic.
Their doctor might therefore not know their status and they may
well be missed. In this specific case, will the Minister commit
to looking at a possible workaround? Allowing HIV clinics to
connect those individuals directly would be one way, but we would
support any effective way of doing that.
Finally, given that it is World Cancer Day, what consideration
has the Minister given to vaccinating household members of the
clinically extremely vulnerable, to give another layer of
protection to blood cancer patients and other CEV people, an
argument strongly supported by the reports that transmission is
reduced by these vaccinations?
To conclude, this programme really is the light at the end of the
tunnel. Our NHS has delivered, and we must support it to continue
to do so by making the right policy decisions.
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his constructive way of
engaging with the vaccination deployment programme. On trials, we
have two running currently, both with Public Health England. The
Vivaldi trial is testing residents of care homes, who were in
category 1 of the JCVI categories. The second is Siren, which is
testing frontline health workers, who are in category 2. As
Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer, has said, we
will know the infection and transmission data from those trials
in the next few weeks. Of course, the Oxford data is very
promising—it needs to be peer reviewed—but those trials will also
capture the Oxford vaccine, because obviously that came on site
in January.
On the priority list, the JCVI looked very closely at both black,
Asian and minority ethnic and, of course, other considerations,
including by profession, and came down clearly on the side of age
as the deciding factor in people’s risk of dying from covid. This
is a race against death, hence the nine categories, which we are
going through, and we will continue to do so. A number of
professions will be captured in those categories. Of course,
those with extremely severe illness will be captured in the
category for the severely extremely vulnerable, and others will
be captured in further categories down the phase 1 list.
I certainly think it would be wrong to change the JCVI
recommendation, because categories 1 to 9 account for 99% of
mortality. When we get into phase 2, we would welcome a debate
and, of course, will ask the JCVI about including professions
such as teachers, shop workers and police officers, who through
their work come into contact with much greater volumes of the
virus than others do, and it will advise us accordingly.
On BAME and ethnicity, the NHS now collects such data, and we are
publishing it. We are doing an enormous amount of work not only
across Government, but with the NHS, to ensure that we bring in
local government so that we can begin to share data. I would
welcome us working much closer with local government and the NHS
so that we can identify, to the individual level, the people we
need to protect as soon as possible.
I put it on the record that I want clinical commissioning groups
to share data with MPs. Several colleagues—[Interruption.]
Including you, Madam Deputy Speaker; I can see you nodding away
vigorously. CCGs should and must engage with local politicians,
because MPs get a lot of emails and telephone calls from
concerned constituents in the top four most vulnerable
categories. Of course, the NHS has plans to publish CCG-level
data very soon.
As for care home staff, we had a fantastic response through the
care home vaccination programme, which is category 1, and we
continue to do more with staff to encourage them to be
vaccinated, because we make four visits into care homes. Visit
one is for the first dose, visit two is to try to vaccinate those
who may have been infected the first time, because people cannot
be vaccinated until after 28 days, visit three will be for second
doses, and so on. We are getting greater traction with care home
staff, but the hon. Gentleman is right to mention that. There is
a big focus on helping them to go to hospital hubs and, of
course, their primary care networks.
On the second dose, everyone who has had a first dose of Pfizer
will get a second dose of Pfizer within that 12-week dosing
period. That will begin in March in the usual way that the NHS
does vaccinations. Everyone who has had a first dose of
Oxford-AstraZeneca will get a second dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca
within 12 weeks as well.
The hg is right to ask about people wanting the option of going
either to a national vaccination centre or to the PCN. If right
hon. and hon. Members have particular cases, please point them to
us and we will do everything we can to ensure that that is
facilitated.
The hon. Gentleman rightly highlighted HIV clinics. I will take
that matter away and see whether there is a workaround for those
who want to have that information remain private from their GP.
We will see what we can do.
This is World Cancer Day, and there is now real excitement in the
scientific community in the UK about the messenger RNA vaccine,
because people can begin to think about vaccines for cancers as
well. However, the hon. Gentleman raises an important point about
those who care for the clinically extremely vulnerable, and we
want to ensure that we deliver the JCVI phase 1 and then very
quickly reach the rest of the population.
(South West Surrey) (Con) [V]
I congratulate the Minister on his leadership of the vaccine
roll-out programme, which really is one of the most impressive
anywhere in the world. Indeed, I also commend the Health
Secretary for the foundations that he laid last year.
Now that we know that mutations and variants are the name of the
game, I want to ask the Minister about a worst-case scenario: a
variant that is wholly immune to the vaccines that we are
currently distributing. How possible is it that we could see that
in the next few months in the UK? Has the Manaus variant, which
people are particularly worried about, arrived here from Brazil?
If we did see such a variant, what is the timescale not just to
develop a new vaccine that works against it, but to manufacture
it and get it approved by regulators so that it is ready to go?
I am grateful to the Chair of the Health and Social Care
Committee for his question, and he is absolutely right. The
manufacturers are already working on variants to their vaccine to
take into account the mutation of the virus. Viruses will mutate
to survive and this virus is no different. There are about 4,000
mutations now around the world, some more concerning than others.
We have, in the United Kingdom, a genome sequencing industry that
is a world leader—about 50%, or just under, of the sequencing has
taken place in the United Kingdom. Not only are we working with
the current manufacturers—Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca and
Moderna—that have been approved, but we are also looking at how
we can make sure that we make the most of the new messenger RNA
technology, which allows the rapid development of vaccine
variants that will then deal with the virus variants as rapidly
as possible. When I spoke to the Science and Technology Committee
a few weeks ago, I said that we were planning to have in place
the ability to go from the moment that we can sequence a variant
that we are really concerned about to the moment that we can have
a vaccine ready in between 30 to 40 days, with then, of course,
the manufacturing time.
We have invested in Oxfordshire, in the Vaccines Manufacturing
and Innovation Centre, and in the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult
Manufacturing Innovation Centre in Braintree—£127 million there
and just shy of £100 million in Oxfordshire—to be ready to
manufacture any vaccine that we would need. The Prime Minister,
of course, also visited those making what I refer to as our
seventh vaccine, the Valneva vaccine. That is a whole inactivated
virus, so it does not just work on the spikes in the way that the
two current vaccines that we are deploying work. It works on the
whole of the virus, which is much more likely to capture any
mutations from the spikes and therefore be incredibly effective.
We have invested in that production facility in Scotland so that
we can have that vaccine as a future-proofing of annual
vaccination strategies or a booster in the autumn, if necessary.
(Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath) (SNP) [V]
I thank the Minister for advance sight of his statement. I am
glad to hear his recognition of the importance of adherence to
the clinical categories of the JCVI, and I also give my thanks to
vaccination teams in my Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency,
across Scotland and, indeed, these islands.
I urge the Minister, however, to think more lightly of himself
and deeply of the world. Over recent weeks, the UK Government and
their allies in Scotland have quite disgracefully been attempting
to sow fear in the minds of our vulnerable communities that
vaccine deployment is too slow. That narrative was completely
debunked yesterday, yet the Prime Minister still claimed that we
have today passed the milestone of 10 million vaccines in the
United Kingdom, including almost 90% of those aged 75 and over in
England, and every eligible person in a care home. Today,
however, on “Good Morning Scotland”, the Minister was further
pressed on how many vaccines had been given—not offered, but
given to people in care homes in England. Even with 24 hours’
warning and following a detailed probing, he was not able to
offer more than a vague 91% of those eligible in an ill-defined
subset, before settling on “a very high number”, and suggesting
that care home staff’s vaccination may not yet have begun in
England. Can he tell us today what percentage of all care home
residents and all care home staff have had their jab in England
and, if not, why not?
To return to the JCVI clinical prioritisation, in a recent
written parliamentary question to the Minister regarding the
clinically extremely vulnerable, he chose to regurgitate JCVI
guidance rather than answering the question. With the encouraging
news that the Oxford vaccine and potentially others have a
measurable impact on transmission, can he update the House on
what steps he has taken to ask the JCVI to review current
guidance for household members of the clinically extremely
vulnerable, such as people with blood cancer or organ
transplantation, and thus provide a vital layer of protection to
those who may not be able to receive the vaccine themselves?
I am grateful for the hon. Member’s question, albeit, dare I say,
I do not recognise his description of our collaboration. We have,
over the past two weeks, been working solidly. The British
Army—the armed forces—have been working to deliver 80 vaccination
sites in Scotland and to hand them over to NHS Scotland within 28
days, and that work began a couple of weeks ago. So I hope he
recognises the effort the United Kingdom is putting in not just
in supplying the vaccines for Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland
and England, but in the way we are trying to support the vaccine
deployment in Scotland.
Of course, last weekend was our target to make sure that every
eligible care home in England was visited, and over 10,000 care
homes have actually been visited and received the vaccine. Only a
handful of care homes, which were deemed to have an outbreak,
were not visited. The NHS, quite rightly, celebrated achieving
that target last weekend, so I am slightly saddened, in a way,
that there is this politicking between ourselves about this
issue.
We continue—as the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for
Nottingham North (), asked me—to
work very hard to make sure that staff in care homes are also
offered the vaccine on those visits, and they also have an
opportunity to be vaccinated in their primary care networks and,
of course, in hospitals.
On the JCVI, those who are clinically extremely vulnerable are in
category 4, and we will vaccinate them by mid-February.
(Scunthorpe) (Con) [V]
Will my hon. Friend join me in thanking local health teams and
volunteers for the incredible vaccination efforts we have seen in
North Lincolnshire? I know they are keen to deliver even more.
Can he give an update on the progress he is making on increasing
weekly vaccine supplies?
I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s question. I certainly join her
in thanking the teams that have been working and delivering in
North Lincolnshire. These are extraordinary people doing really
incredible work, and I want to thank them from the bottom of my
heart.
We try as hard as we can in the team to make sure we give as much
notice as possible to local teams about when they are getting
their delivery. This week, yesterday—Wednesday—everyone would
have had notice of their deliveries for next week. We want to
give as much notice as possible. Our limiting factor remains
vaccine supply. It is becoming more stable, and we have greater
visibility of vaccines all the way through to March, hence our
confidence about meeting our targets. I can reassure my hon.
Friend that her local teams will get the vaccines they need to
meet the mid-February target of vaccinating the top four cohorts
and protecting them before that date.
(Twickenham) (LD) [V]
It was an immense privilege this morning to visit the Stoop in
Twickenham, home to Harlequins rugby, which opens today as a
local mass vaccination hub. The NHS, Quins and the council have
done an incredible job to be in a position to start vaccinating
500 people a day.
The Minister has spoken quite a lot about care home staff and
some of the challenges in driving uptake among those staff, but
we know that domiciliary care staff are also lagging behind in
the vaccination rates. One industry survey has suggested that
only 32% have been vaccinated so far. Could I press the Minister
again: what are the latest vaccination rates for both care home
staff and home care staff, what are the reasons for this lag and
how can we best work together to address this problem?
I am grateful for the hon. Lady’s question. It is great to hear
about the Harlequins joining the fight, as they always do, when
it comes to the United Kingdom actually getting people protected
and vaccinated.
Care home and domiciliary staff are both on our priority list, as
the hon. Lady knows. We are working with local government, and
David Pearson, who is of course a champion of the social care
sector, has been working with local government to identify them.
The best way to identify domiciliary staff is through local
government, because a lot of people will be with agencies and, as
the hon. Lady quite rightly pointed out, are hard to reach. They
are in our target: they are part of the top four categories, with
those who are caring for the elderly in residential care homes,
and we will meet our target of offering them a vaccine by
mid-February.
(Wrexham) (Con) [V]
British-based pharmaceutical companies have been pivotal in the
global fight against this pandemic. Plants in Teesside,
Livingston and Oxford, and Wockhardt in my constituency, are
central to vaccine manufacture. So what conversations has my hon.
Friend had with his Home Office counterparts to provide
sufficient security to these vital pieces of national vaccine
infrastructure?
I want to reassure my hon. Friend that, through the vaccines
taskforce, we have been liaising extensively with the vaccines’
developers and the related organisations to ensure that the
highest level of security exists through the whole vaccine
deployment chain. That has, of course, included working directly
with the manufacturers, and we have a senior responsible officer
seconded to the team to make sure that security is at the
forefront of everything we do to deliver this programme. We
cannot allow a lapse of security to get in the way of the largest
vaccination programme in the history of this country.
(Strangford) (DUP)
I thank the Minister for his concerted strategy and for the
overall roll-out of covid vaccines. We are deeply indebted to him
for the focus he has given. Does he intend there to be a route by
which those who are younger and still attending front-facing work
are able to access their vaccine? Furthermore, what co-ordination
has there been with GPs’ surgeries to assist them in categorising
need when assessing those who are vulnerable but who did not have
shielding CEV letters?
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising this issue. It is
a priority for us and we will be saying more on it very soon,
because the groups who have not received the letters but are
shielding remain incredibly important. He is absolutely right to
raise the issue, which is a priority for us.
(Eastbourne) (Con) [V]
Getting to 10 million vaccines is a major milestone and a serious
achievement, and I am pleased to report to my hon. Friend that,
thanks to the dedication of many local people, the roll-out in
Eastbourne has got off to a very strong start. However, as access
and options have increased with new sites coming on stream, there
has been some initial public confusion over the different routes
and communications. The concern is that the “did not attend”
rate, which has to date been insignificant, could now increase.
Will my hon. Friend, who is doing such sterling work, assure me
that as we march forward the structure of this brave new vaccine
campaign is being reviewed and that we can have confidence?
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her question. I am delighted
to see that in her constituency the vaccination programme has
rolled out so efficiently and well. She is right to point out the
issue of choice; we deliberately wanted people to have the choice
to be able to go to a vaccination centre or to go through their
primary care networks or hospital hub. I will make sure that each
and every person in those four categories is offered a vaccine.
We have a strategy, which we are now implementing because we are
so close to that deadline, of reaching out to the granular
level—to GPs—to go through exactly the population in each of
those four categories, in order to make sure we know that
everybody has been reached and offered that vaccine. I just give
her that reassurance.
(York Central) (Lab/Co-op) [V]
Pharmacies cannot contribute in the vaccine programme unless they
commit to deliver at least 1,000 vaccines a week. That precludes
many community pharmacies embedded within those communities where
some residents cannot access the vaccination centres. So will the
Minister allow local pharmacies to work together to deliver
smaller volumes, so that they can reach more residents who would
not otherwise get a vaccine?
I am grateful for the hon. Lady’s question. Community and
independent pharmacies have a significant role to play; she may
have heard me refer earlier to the hundreds that are already in
the programme, delivering vaccines. The reason for the 1,000
vaccinations a week minimum is that, when vaccine supply is
finite and every dose matters, we cannot afford for vaccines to
just sit in a fridge in a smaller pharmacy. As vaccine supply
begins to improve, we can look at bringing in more pharmacies. At
the moment, 98% of the country is within 10 miles of a
vaccination site; for the 2%, we will go to them with a pop-up
site. I want us to get to a stage, once we have done phase 1,
where we are maybe able to be more convenient and where people
can pop into their local pharmacy once supply allows.
(South Dorset)
(Con) [V]
The data concerning the Pfizer vaccination recommended that the
second jab be given within three weeks. As the Minister has said
today, the interval is currently 12 weeks. I am hearing of
concerns from the medical world about this gap, which it is
claimed risks reducing the vaccine’s efficacy. Could he update
the House on this matter?
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question. Pfizer itself
says that it is up to the national regulatory authority to advise
on the dosing interval. Not only the Medicines and Healthcare
products Regulatory Agency—which is our regulator—but the Joint
Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation and the four chief
medical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
all agreed that the up to 12-week interval for Pfizer-BioNTech is
exactly the right thing to do to make sure we protect as many
people as possible. They cited Pfizer’s own data that, after 15
days, up to 21 days, protection is up to 89% with the first dose.
(Hammersmith) (Lab) [V]
One of my main primary care centres only has enough vaccine
supply to open for half the week. Whether this is because
vaccines are being directed to other types of centre—like the
major centres that we do not yet have—or are bypassing London, or
because there are simply not enough vaccines full stop, targets
are being missed. Only 70% of over-80s and 55% of all priority
groups had been vaccinated by this week. Can the Minister look at
supply to Hammersmith and Fulham, and to London generally?
I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s question, and I will
certainly look at that specific example, if he is able to give me
the details. The data that will be published at 2 pm for his
sustainability and transformation partnership will show that
vaccination levels for the over-80s are now over 75%, which is an
improvement, but they need to go even further, so I will happily
take a look at that. Of course, the recent large vaccination site
opened at Network House, Wembley will also help with that.
(Dewsbury) (Con) [V]
Frontline nurses, doctors and care staff in Dewsbury, Mirfield,
Kirkburton and Denby Dale have done an amazing job during this
pandemic, working long hours under immense pressure, and it is
only right that they have been included in the first phase of the
vaccinations. Could my hon. Friend confirm the percentage take-up
rate of vaccinations for NHS and care home staff?
I agree with my hon. Friend. The fantastic NHS staff have stepped
up in the most challenging of circumstances, and it is imperative
that they are part of this first phase of the vaccination
programme.
A significant milestone was achieved last week, as my hon. Friend
will have heard me say earlier: we have now gone into every
eligible care home of older adults to offer their staff and
residents their first dose of the vaccine. This is testament to
our remarkable care home staff and NHS workers. I urge all social
care and frontline health care workers to take up the vaccine
when it is offered to them. The recent large vaccination centre
for my hon. Friend’s constituency is the Spectrum Community
Health CIC in Wakefield, which staff can also access. We continue
to make progress with staff, and our aim is to offer to each and
every member of staff that vaccination by the middle of February.
(Bristol East) (Lab) [V]
The news that a mutated form of the new, more infectious Kent
variant has been found in Bristol has worried a lot of people. I
appreciate what the Minister said earlier about developing new
vaccine variants as we go along, but where does that leave people
who have already been vaccinated or who will be vaccinated before
the new vaccines come on stream? What reassurance can the
Minister offer?
The hon. Lady raises an important point. The vaccines that we are
currently deploying will work on the variants that are in the
United Kingdom. Both the deputy chief medical officer, Jonathan
Van-Tam, and the chief scientific adviser have said that they
would be very surprised if the current vaccines have no impact on
the variants of the virus, so we continue to vaccinate at speed,
at the same time, of course, as being vigilant by sequencing the
new variants. Of course, we are able to react, with the
manufacturers, to any future need in respect of the vaccination
programme. At the moment, the vaccines are exactly the right
thing to do, including because of the protection against severe
infection and hospitalisation that they offer, which remains
incredibly high with both vaccines.
(Gillingham and Rainham) (Con) [V]
Further to my question to the Prime Minister last week in which I
called for a mass vaccination centre in Medway—also called for by
fellow Medway Members of Parliament—I welcome the proposals by
Kent and Medway CCG to increase capacity at Medway Maritime
Hospital, which now needs to be added to the national booking
programme. However, the Minister knows from conversations with
Members of Parliament from Medway that we urgently need a mass
vaccination centre in Medway. We have a population of 280,000 and
are one of the areas hardest hit by covid in the country. I need
the Minister to ensure, now, urgently and swiftly, that we get a
mass vaccination centre in Medway, in line with our needs. Linked
to that, will the Minister join me in paying tribute to the
fantastic NHS staff throughout Medway and at Medway Maritime
Hospital, and to the great work that the CCG is doing in Kent?
My hon. Friend and I have had conversations about this matter
because he is a great champion of his constituents. He will be
aware that there has been a huge amount of work to step up
vaccination services in Medway in recent weeks. Each primary care
network site receives its own supply, and work has been carried
out with the local CCG to ensure that the vaccine supply aligns
with the number of registered patients in the priority cohort
groups—groups 1 to 4. When some sites progress through their
supply more quickly than others, we work with them to ensure that
supplies are replenished as quickly as possible so that they can
continue to vaccinate the most vulnerable. We are keeping a close
watch on my hon. Friend’s area because, as he quite rightly
points out, it has gone through some difficulties. I reassure him
that the latest numbers I have for the Kent and Medway STP show
that 86.3% of over-80s have had the first dose.
(Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP) [V]
The Leader of the House and the Minister talk of the beneficence
of this Government. Yesterday, soon-to-be Baroness Davidson asked
Scotland’s First Minister whether she would accept armed forces
help with vaccine deployment, in spite of huge increases in the
roll-out in Scotland. As Scotland contributes to the UK armed
forces—as do all parts of the UK—is it not time to stop using
this dreadful pandemic to portray the deployment of our armed
services in such a cynical and divisive way?
I am grateful for the hon. Member’s question, although I am
slightly surprised because it is the United Kingdom’s armed
forces and the United Kingdom’s vaccine that are being deployed,
and I hope we can celebrate that. [Interruption.] I see the hon.
Member for Nottingham North () nodding across
the Dispatch Box—and I think he is smiling underneath that mask
as well.
(Chatham and Aylesford) (Con) [V]
I join others in congratulating the Minister on the incredible,
world-leading roll-out of the vaccine—I would have expected
nothing less from my brilliant friend and colleague. May I
reinforce the plea from my hon. Friend the Member for Gillingham
and Rainham () for a Medway vaccination centre, for all the reasons
he gave? Perhaps it would be helpful if we could meet the
Minister to discuss that in more detail. My PCNs are doing a
phenomenal job in racing through the top four priority groups,
but at present they do not have access to IT systems, such as
Outcomes4Health and Foundry, that would enable them to analyse
and plan properly. My understanding is that access was promised
but might not have happened universally, so could the Minister
reassure the House that this is being rectified urgently to
support the next and larger phase of vaccine roll-out?
I add my thanks to those of my hon. Friend for the relentless
determination of her excellent local PCNs to vaccinate the most
vulnerable. I would be very happy to meet colleagues to go
through in detail the plan up to mid-February, which is our
target, and beyond. I am also happy to take away her PCNs’
specific concern about data sharing. Our mantra in the team is to
make as much data available as quickly as possible, when we know
that it is robust and actionable, so we will look at her point
about Foundry and Outcomes4Health to ensure that we can share
that. I want to get to a stage where every PCN can track its
order, in the way we track an order from Amazon. We have reached
basecamp, but we have a big climb ahead of us to vaccinate the
whole nation.
(Blaydon) (Lab) [V]
May I start by thanking all the staff in our primary care
networks and in our NHS for the magnificent work they have done
to ensure that as many people in the priority groups in the
north-east are vaccinated? In any call and recall system for
vaccines, some people will inevitably be missed, so when will
directors of public health get the data they need, in sufficient
detail, to be able to address those inequalities and contact
those who have not responded?
I am grateful to the hon. Lady for that incredibly important
question. Her region has done phenomenally well. I want to praise
it because it has 91.8% of first doses for the over-80s in the
STP. The NHS is already sharing data with local government. We
need to make it more granular. We have brought into the
deployment campaign Eleanor Kelly, the former chief executive of
Southwark Council, so we are totally in line and integrated with
local government, because they know exactly where those
hard-to-reach groups are. The hon. Lady raises an incredibly
important point and that is a big focus for me.
(South West
Wiltshire) (Con) [V]
The Government have done brilliantly well in securing more than
350 million jabs, which is enough, all being well, to vaccinate
the at-risk population several times over. Given the UK’s
relatively enlightened and co-operative approach to vaccine
roll-out internationally—in sharp contrast to the narrow and
vindictive nationalism of certain quarters of the European Union,
which really ought to know better—what trigger points and
timetable does my hon. Friend envisage for the disbursement of
our inventory of surplus jabs, and the infrastructure necessary
to deliver them to countries that are less advantaged than our
own?
I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for his excellent question.
My absolutely priority is to ensure that we have the inventory—as
he quite rightly describes it—to allow us to offer the vaccine to
all adults in the United Kingdom, and at the moment we are
nowhere near that. Supply remains the limiting factor in our
first target, which is to vaccinate groups 1 to 4 by
mid-February, and then groups 5 to 9 as soon as we can after
that, with phase 2, which we have been discussing today, after
that. He is absolutely right that we have now ordered or optioned
407 million doses of vaccine.
Once we are in a position to secure enough vaccine for the United
Kingdom’s population, we will be able to look at where else we
can help with our vaccine supply. We have also put £1.3 billion
into a combination of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and COVAX. Of
that £1.3 billion, approximately £480 million is going to COVAX,
which is helping low and middle-income countries with their
vaccination programmes as we speak.
(Manchester, Gorton) (Lab) [V]
I was grateful for the Minister’s support for the video that I
and colleagues across the House with south Asian heritage
produced to encourage take-up of the vaccine throughout the UK’s
south Asian communities. He knows that there is real concern
about the impact of the disinformation being spread online and
offline in black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.
Worryingly, much of the disinformation appears to play on
people’s faith or race. What work is he and Department for
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport colleagues undertaking to
tackle the spread of vaccine disinformation online?
I am grateful and incredibly encouraged by the hon. Gentleman’s
brilliant initiative, taken with many colleagues across the
House, to deliver that brilliant video of south Asian MPs from
different political backgrounds and traditions all recommending
that, when people’s turn comes, they should take the vaccine.
We have been working across Government. In the Cabinet Office,
the covid disinformation unit was set up in March. It works
online with the digital platforms to ensure that we identify
disinformation and misinformation to them. They should be taking
that down immediately. My message to all of them, whether
Twitter, Facebook or any of them is this: “You must, must be
responsible and play your part in taking this disinformation down
as soon as we flag it up to you.”
(The
Cotswolds) (Con) [V]
I am sure my hon. Friend would like to join me in paying huge
tribute to the NHS colleagues and volunteers who have rolled out
the vaccine with such speed in Gloucestershire. However, is he
able to tell the House whether there will be any clarity about
when the nine priority categories are likely to be completed?
Will that inform the Government on how they can produce a road
map for a roll-out of the wider economy, as my businesses in the
Cotswolds are desperate for clarity on that matter?
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question. I will
certainly join him in thanking the NHS family and army of
volunteers. They have done phenomenally well. I can tell him that
in his STP in Gloucestershire, 94% of the over-80s have received
their first dose—that is pretty good going. He will know that we
have built a deployment infrastructure than can deploy as much
vaccine supply as we are able to bring in. A couple of Saturdays
ago, we reached a record of just shy of 600,000 doses in a single
day. That is, I guess, a demonstration of the capability of the
infrastructure. We continue to grow it, as I announced today. It
is very much dependent on vaccine supply. We have good visibility
from here to the end of March, with more volume coming through
beyond that. My focus should—I hope he agrees—be on the
mid-February deadline to vaccinate those top four cohorts of the
most vulnerable. That is 88% of mortality and, if we can get them
done by mid-February, we will have achieved a real milestone in
our fight against this virus.
(Chesterfield) (Lab) [V]
The vaccination centre in Chesterfield, the largest town in
Derbyshire, is open for only two days this week and for a maximum
of two days next week, because NHS England apparently imposed
much smaller vaccination numbers on the primary care network hubs
than the national centres get. The Derbyshire primary care
network states that it could achieve the Minister’s targets if it
had the same access to vaccines and the national booking system
as the national hubs service. Will he explain why the national
centres are prioritised over the local primary care network hubs
in towns such as Chesterfield?
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his question. The primary
care networks have done a fantastic job in delivering the vaccine
roll-out and will continue do so as we go beyond the first four
cohorts into cohorts 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 and then the next phase. Of
course we want to make sure that people have choice. He will know
by 2 pm, I think—when the next set of data is published—that his
STP has reached 89% of the over-80s, which is an incredible
achievement, the bulk of which has been done by the primary care
networks. We will continue to support those networks. Through
him, I send my thanks and appreciation to them and say that we
will redouble our efforts to make sure that they get the vaccine
doses that they need to get through not just the first four
cohorts, but beyond that to the deployment programme for groups
5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.
(Forest of Dean) (Con) [V]
I am very pleased that the Government have agreed that, once the
vaccines have become effective for the first four cohorts from 8
March, we can start unlocking the economy. Does the Minister
agree that,
once the first nine groups have been vaccinated, accounting for
99% of deaths and about 80% of hospitalisations, that would be
the right time for all restrictions to be relaxed so that we can
get back to living as normal, with our children back at school
and the economy fully open?
There is no one who wants to see the economy open and functioning
as soon as possible more than my right hon. Friend and the Prime
Minister. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Forest of Dean
(Mr Harper) rightly points out, the deadline for the top four
cohorts is the middle of February. If we go forward three weeks
from there, that is when the protection of the two vaccines
really kicks in. The plan is to reopen schools on 8 March, after
which we will gradually reopen the economy. It is important also
to wait for the evidence. As I said earlier, the Vivaldi study
and the SIREN study will enable us to see the impact of the
vaccines on infection rates and on transmission. We are getting
some really positive data from Israel and, of course, from the
Oxford team. That will be our own robust evidence and, as the
Prime Minister said, we will then share with the House on 22
February the roadmap of how we intend very gradually to reopen
the economy.
(Aberdeen North) (SNP) [V]
The UK Government have pre-purchased 300 million doses for a
population of 66 million. Guinea, a low-income country, has
received only 55 doses for its entire population. Given that
COVAX will cover only about 20% of the population in low and
middle-income countries, can the Minister explain how the UK will
step up and take part as global Britain, ensuring that those
people in low and middle-income countries and developing
countries are able to access the vaccine?
I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her question. We will do so in
a couple of ways. First, once we have enough vaccine supply to be
able to offer the vaccine to every adult in the United
Kingdom—every eligible group from 1 to 9 and then phase 2—we will
then look at our vaccine supply strategy. At the moment, we are
nowhere near having enough supply to be able to make that offer.
That has to be our priority. She mentions COVAX, but that is only
part of the story for us in the United Kingdom. We have put about
£450 million-plus into COVAX, but a total of £1.3 billion into
the vaccine initiative of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance. We are, I
think, the largest donor, not only in money but per capita. We
are making a big, big impact globally in both research and
development, and vaccinations to low and middle-income countries.
Madam Deputy Speaker ( )
I appreciate that colleagues have complicated questions to ask
the Minister and that the answers are therefore also complicated,
but I must ask for a bit more speed now, because we have taken an
hour. I should stop proceedings on this item of business, but I
will not do so because I appreciate that there are important
questions to be asked. I urge Members to go just a little faster.
(Henley)
(Con) [V]
First, let me offer my congratulations to the Minister on
achieving more than 10 million vaccinations. I wonder whether he
will comment on how soon I will be able to wander down to my
local chemist to get a jab, as I did for flu.
I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s congratulations. I stand on
the shoulders of heroes; it is the army of the NHS family,
volunteers and our armed forces that is doing the real heavy
lifting in this deployment.
I visited Cullimore chemist in Edgware, a brilliant independent
chemist that is delivering the vaccination programme. At the
moment, the limiting factor is the ability to do 1,000 vaccine
doses a week because of the finite amount of vaccine. However, as
we get more volume through, I, like my hon. Friend, want to see
convenience, so that someone can walk down the road to their
local chemist. I look forward to doing that with him, I hope, one
day.
(Preston) (Lab/Co-op) [V]
We know that all vaccinations are captured in real time and
populate GP records within 24 hours. However, only the aggregated
data is provided to local vaccination leads. It is absolutely
necessary that they receive line-by-line data at citizen level to
enable them to respond immediately to low uptake—for example from
BAME communities—or accessibility issues in identified cohorts.
When will the Minister provide local vaccination leads with the
detailed line-by-line vaccination data that is required to level
up the fight against this deadly disease, and can he explain why
it is not already being shared?
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that we need to share as
much granular data as possible with local public health officials
and, of course, make sure that local government can target home
by home, individual by individual, as soon as possible. I want to
see the CCG-level data published, and the NHS will be doing that
very soon. We continue to make sure that we work closely with
local government to understand what additional data is needed,
and I mentioned Eleanor Kelly joining the team from local
government. That is exactly my intention, and the hon. Gentleman
raises a really important question, because if we are going to
target and reach the hard-to-reach groups in the BAME community,
we need that information.
(Ludlow) (Con) [V]
I wholeheartedly congratulate my hon. Friend and all those
involved in delivering over 10 million vaccines to the most
vulnerable in our communities right across the UK, including at
the vaccination hub opened on Tuesday at Ludlow racecourse with
support to the local NHS from Royal Air Force medics, volunteers
from Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service and Shropshire Council,
and many community volunteers. May I ask my hon. Friend to
consider most carefully, for those areas where deployment of the
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine proved especially difficult—for example,
primary care networks covering remote rural areas, with small GP
practices and a sparse population, and lacking suitable premises
to host large numbers per day, such as in south-west
Shropshire—whether deliveries of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine
can be prioritised to ensure that the priority group targets are
met?
My right hon. Friend will appreciate the importance of maximising
the vaccine available to GPs by using both the Pfizer vaccine and
the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, but in recent weeks the volume of
Oxford-AstraZeneca going to GP sites has been higher than that of
Pfizer, allowing the flex to visit the housebound and care homes
and to deploy at individual practices in rural areas, as he
rightly points out. Any site that wishes to discuss its vaccine
allocations should do so with its local system in the first
instance, and thereafter with the NHS regional team, but I am
very happy to look at any specific examples.
Dame (Wallasey) (Lab) [V]
The Minister was uncharacteristically coy in answer to the hon.
Member for The Cotswolds ( )
about how we will kick on after the top four priority groups have
been vaccinated. Will he give us a bit more detail about when he
believes all adults over 50 will have received their vaccination?
Clearly there are members of his own party who wish to open up
faster than that, and with more than 1,000 people a day still
dying, we have to ensure that we make the right decisions.
I will keep it short, Madam Deputy Speaker. My target is
mid-February for the top four cohorts. Either I or the Secretary
of State will then come to the Dispatch Box to share with the
House the plan beyond category 4, into categories 5, 6, 7, 8 and
9.
(Aberconwy) (Con) [V]
Will the Minister join me in thanking the staff of Betsi
Cadwaladr University Health Board, our GP practices and the many
volunteers who have worked so hard in recent weeks to deliver
more than 100,000 doses of vaccine across Aberconwy and the
beautiful but rural north Wales? Can he confirm that Public
Health Wales has received enough vaccine doses to vaccinate the
first four priority groups in Wales by mid-February?
I will certainly join my hon. Friend in congratulating the Betsi
Cadwaladr University Health Board, the GPs and their teams and
the many volunteers. I can confirm that Wales and the Welsh NHS
will have received the allocation for groups 1 to 4 by
mid-February for them to be able to do that, and I commend them
for the work they are doing.
(Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD) [V]
Unpaid carers provide a huge service to our community in South
Lakeland, especially for the people they care for directly. If
they get ill, that is a huge welfare risk for the people they
care for. There has been confusion over whether unpaid carers
will be prioritised for the vaccine, because although the
Government said that they would be in priority group 6, they are
missing from other communications, including the summary list in
the vaccine delivery plan. Will the Minister clarify once and for
all that unpaid carers rightly will be on the priority list?
We are absolutely looking to make sure that unpaid carers are on
the priority list.
(Bosworth) (Con) [V]
Lockdown has affected the mental wellbeing of almost everyone in
this country. The vaccine programme will mean that the NHS comes
into contact with almost every adult in the country. With that in
mind, will the Minister consider having a mental health worker at
all the national vaccine centres, to provide opportunistic mental
health interventions should people need it?
I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s excellent, thoughtful
suggestion. I will certainly take that away and discuss it with
the Minister responsible in the Department.
