3. What discussions is the Minister having with officials, including those in Public Health Wales, about progress towards a vaccine for COVID-19? OQ55789

As I'm sure he'll have heard, the UK Government is leading the work on funding and procuring vaccines for each nation of the UK. The Welsh Government is working closely with key stakeholders, such as Public Health Wales, health boards, trusts and local authorities on plans to distribute a vaccine when one does become available.

Thank you, health Minister. A number of newspapers reported recently that it might be just a matter of weeks before NHS staff might start receiving a vaccine. The development of a vaccine is clearly key to dealing with the pandemic over the medium and the longer term, as you've made clear before. There's clearly going to be enormous demand for this vaccine once it's available. Has the Welsh Government established a list of those who will get the vaccine first, such as doctors, nurses and teachers? I think it's important that plans are made. Also, if we are to hit the ground running in getting the vaccine out to the most vulnerable, what plans are you putting in place to support it, and have your officials discussed with health practitioners the logistics in providing the vaccine?

So, 'yes' to the final point—yes, of course, there have been conversations led by the chief medical officer's department, as you'd expect, with the different parts of our healthcare services about how a vaccination programme would be delivered. In terms of your point about priorities, we again will have UK advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation about how to prioritise vulnerable groups. So, it won't be the case that we'll have competing demands from professional groups about why they should be at the head of the queue compared to others; it's about which vulnerable groups in our society are likely to gain the greatest benefit, taking account of the characteristics of any vaccine that is ultimately approved and made available for use. That's really important, because otherwise, any sense that it's the loudest voice rather than the equity and the benefit that a vaccine will provide, I think, will undermine the trust that is essential for our staff who'll be delivering the programme as well as the public who we will be asking to come forward to take the vaccine as well. So, I think you can be confident that if and when a vaccine is available we'll have a plan in place to deliver that here in Wales, and we'll be clear, as I said in answer to Rhun ap Iorwerth earlier, about the communication about what we're doing and why, and which groups we're particularly keen to vaccinate first to give them the best prospect of avoiding further harm from what is a highly infectious and deadly disease.