,
Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to the Health
Secretary’s statement in the House of Commons, said:
“Vaccination needs to reach everyone.
“What is his plan to drive up vaccination levels in minority
ethnic communities?
“Some areas won funding to tackle hesitancy in minority ethnic
communities, but a city like Leicester - one of our most diverse
- was not on the list. Will he rectify that?
“Last night he said ‘the way we deal with new variants is to
respond to them as they arise. The first line of defence is to
identify and stop spread.’
“But our first line of defence is to surely to do everything we
can to stop them arising in the first place.
“That means securing our borders to isolate new variants as they
come in.
“Why then are over half of countries where the South African
variant has been identified not on the so called ‘red list’?
According to newspapers briefings, he wants the quarantine
arrangements to be more extensive.
“I want that. The British public want that. Why don’t we work
together to force the Prime Minister to fix this hole in the
nation’s defences and make our borders stronger against further
variants?
“Mutations occur as long as the virus can replicate and transmit.
“And the greater the spread, the greater that opportunity.
“We have the South African variant, the ‘eek’ E 4 8 4 K mutation
in the B 1 1 7 strain has been identified as well.
“Isn’t the cold reality that the virus is here for some time? And
therefore for vaccines to succeed in protecting us, we need to do
more to protect those vaccines by cutting transmission chains and
spread, especially when lockdown eases.
“Last year the Secretary of State in launching Test and Trace
said it would ‘help us keep this virus under control while
carefully and safely lifting the lockdown nationally.’
“But it didn’t keep the virus under control, did it? What will be
different this time? Will retrospective testing be routine
everywhere not just in response to variants?
“Extra testing where there are variants is welcome. But for many
who can’t work from home on zoom calls and laptops, the poorest
and low paid, or those living in overcrowded housing, or care
workers using up their holiday entitlement when sick so not to
lose wages, a positive test is not just a medical blow but a
financial one as well.
“Last Tuesday he boasted of the £500 payment, yet over 70 per
cent of applications for financial support are rejected.
“By Wednesday his own head of Test and Trace was pointing out
20,000 sick people a day don’t isolate, And two months earlier
Dido Harding had already said:
‘People are not self-isolating because they find it very
difficult. The need to keep earning and feed your family is
fundamental’
“So is it any wonder infections are falling at slower rates in
the most deprived communities?
“We need the financial self-isolation support his scientific
advisors call for and has been shown to work internationally.
“But if he thinks I’m wrong can he tell us why he thinks Dido
Harding is wrong?
“Secondly, we know this virus can be transmitted through
aerosols. Will he look at installing air filtration systems in
public buildings such as schools?
“And given concerns the B 1 1 7 variant may shed more viral load
through coughing and sneezing will he update the guidance on
facemasks, as Germany has with F F P 2 masks on public transport
and in shops and will ensure higher grade PPE for frontline NHS
staff becomes the requirement as the BMA, RCN and unions have
called for.
“Finally: next week is children of alcoholics week – a cause
close to my heart.
“Today we learnt that excess deaths from liver disease are up 11
per cent since the start of the pandemic. Many children are in
lockdown in homes under the shadow of alcohol abuse. Will he look
at providing more support for those organisations that are
helping children through this difficult time?”
