3. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:34 pm on 29 April 2020.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 3:34, 29 April 2020

On your final question about fertility treatments, I'd need to go through more of the detail. If you'd be happy to send me a note, I'll be happy to provide you with some more detail on the points that you raise.

In terms of people undertaking a variety of vaccination programmes, the point I made earlier stands, that we don't anticipate there being, at this point in time, a challenge with vaccine supply for other vaccines. The real challenge is getting the public to take up the vaccinations that are available, and to recognise the very real protection it provides to them and other people if they do so.

On your point about testing centres, it's not a surprise, but it's a constant source of frustration and disappointment to me that we have reports in other organs claiming to look at the UK-wide picture that don't accurately reflect where we are in Wales. We of course have more than one testing centre—we've got more than one drive-through centre—and the 21 that NWIS have provided you reflects not just the numbers of venues, but then there's something about the spread of those as well, because community testing involves people going out to people's homes. I've already said we're going to be at the point where we're going to have home testing available for people as well, and mobile units to go out and provide testing too. So this isn't just about getting people to a test centre; it's actually about getting the tests to people in a more convenient way. That isn't just an issue for rural Wales; it's an issue for large parts of urban Wales too, to make the testing programme as easy to access as possible. It's not just about the form-filling process, but then the practical access to the test itself, and we actually should then be in a world where we're able to move to a point where the test results themselves are sent directly to people by SMS if they have that. I think that texting response will remove yet another part of the challenge in the efficiency of the system. So, yes, NWIS are correct with their 21, but you need to see how those 21 different programmes and venues work in providing tests to people, and not just getting people to a different venue.