Contributions
3,496 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-outYes, my hon. Friend is completely right. We must all keep doing the basics—“Hands, face and space”, respecting the rules, and living carefully with personal responsibility, so as…08 Dec 2020HANSARD Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-outThe hon. Lady and I agree that clinical need must be the priority, and once we have reached all those with a significant clinical need, as set out by the JCVI, we will set the…08 Dec 2020HANSARD Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-outOf course I will defend to the end the work that we did to get the PPE roll-out to which the hon. Lady refers. Of course we had priority contracts, because we wanted, when…08 Dec 2020HANSARD Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-outThankfully, as the National Audit Office set out, they have not been a feature of any of the response to coronavirus, so that is good.08 Dec 2020HANSARD Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-outWell, I very much hope so, but there is some time between now and then, so we have got to temper our joy and enthusiasm at today’s announcement with the need to keep on keeping…08 Dec 2020HANSARD Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-outThis year, I have sometimes turned for inspiration to the bard: “If you prick us, do we not bleed?” So it was a delight and a coincidence to find that Mr William Shakespeare of…08 Dec 2020HANSARD Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-outYes. That is the hardest part of the vaccine roll-out to deliver by its nature, because of the minus 70°C requirements of the vaccine, but it is absolutely a part of the plan.08 Dec 2020HANSARD Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-outToday we are seeing the very start of that roll-out, and I absolutely hope that that will expand across West Yorkshire over this week.08 Dec 2020HANSARD Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-outAt 6.31 this morning, 90 year-old Margaret Keenan from Enniskillen, who lives in Coventry, became the first person in the world to receive a clinically authorised vaccine for…08 Dec 2020HANSARD Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-outI can absolutely assure the hon. Lady that the fundamental principle of the roll-out is that it must be done according to clinical need and fairly right across every part of the…08 Dec 2020HANSARD Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-outThat is right—we can all look forward to a much brighter 2021. We must stick with it for now, but we can see the way through this. The hon. Gentleman asked several very reasonable…08 Dec 2020HANSARD Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-outThrice yes, indeed; I thank my hon. Friend, who is Stratford’s representative in this place. My hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Damian Collins) is right about…08 Dec 2020HANSARD Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-outYes, my hon. Friend rightly raises an important point. Vaccination is happening in Cumbria today, which I am really pleased about. Cumbria is, of course, one of the most rural…08 Dec 2020HANSARD Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-outWe absolutely will consider that factor when we come to the groups after the clinical prioritised groups. I join the hon. Lady in thanking Jack and all those who have put…08 Dec 2020HANSARD Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-outYes, yes and yes.08 Dec 2020HANSARD Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-outAbsolutely. NHS staff are in the second priority cohort set out by the JCVI, and that includes all patient-facing staff in the NHS and social care. Patients who are clinically…08 Dec 2020HANSARD Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-outI have a huge amount of sympathy with what the hon. Lady says, and we have looked into this. We are not proposing to extend the Christmas bubbles, but we hope that NHS trusts and…08 Dec 2020HANSARD Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-outThe plan is, according to clinical priority, to vaccinate those in care homes and their carers; NHS and social care staff, and the over-80s; then the over-75s; and then, at that…08 Dec 2020HANSARD Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-outThe Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, should it be approved, does have easier logistical and distributional qualities—it does not have to be stored at minus 70°—so that helps. Of…08 Dec 2020HANSARD Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-outWhile the vaccine rolls out, the best way to get any area down through the tiers is to continue to follow the restrictions that are, unfortunately, still absolutely necessary to…08 Dec 2020