6. What planning is the Welsh Government undertaking for the roll-out of a COVID-19 vaccination programme across Islwyn? OQ55806

The Welsh Government is working on an all-Wales basis with key stakeholders, such as Public Health Wales, health boards, including, of course, the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board serving Islwyn, trusts and local authorities on plans to distribute a vaccine when one does becomes available.

Diolch. Minister, we know that there is no current vaccination for COVID-19, but constant suggestions that 2021 could see one or more first generational COVID-19 vaccines. Albert Bourla, the chief executive of Pfizer, has said that the German vaccine was in the last mile, and that the pharmaceutical company expected results within a matter of weeks, and we know that pharmaceutical and drug companies say this. It is also mooted that the UK Government has bought enough doses for 20 million people, whilst the Oxford vaccination moves towards its final stages of trials. But we also know that early vaccines will not be a magic bullet. Bearing in mind that the UK Government has now stepped back from some of the normal EU drug test processes, how is the Welsh Government pairing alongside the other nations of the United Kingdom to ensure that the people of Wales have confidence to take a new vaccination and that there are enough qualified professionals available to administer it and within enough locations? 

Thank you. I think it's really important to remind ourselves that a vaccine won't be a magic bullet in itself. It is really important to reflect that the efficacy and impact of a vaccine in its first stage of delivery is not something that we will fully understand until it's given on a wider population basis. That's why the safety trials for a vaccine before being introduced are so important, and many vaccines that look promising, once they get to the final stage, don't ultimately go forward into population use. So, it is generally encouraging. There are lots of vaccines that are in trials that are promising, but we should not expect all of them to be delivered and to be successful. We should not expect all of them to be delivered and successful in the very, very near future. But, when one does become available, the Member, I think, can take comfort in the fact that we are already planning about how to deliver that, about which groups of staff would deliver that, how we would do that in different venues, different professional groups working together. And that then comes back to the point about what we choose to do, because a vaccine is unlikely to be delivered that will provide a lifetime's worth of protection. We have a seasonal flu vaccine that people are asked to undertake every year. We may have something that is of that effect, or even it may be something that has a lesser time frame in terms of its impact. We'll need to understand all of that as we're going through the delivery of any vaccination programme. 

So, the essential messages about our behaviour and about the choices we make will still be different to the way we lived our lives before the pandemic for some time to come. Coronavirus is still going to be with us for a significant period of time, even with a first-stage successful vaccine. So, again, the choices in what each of us should do will be really important, not just for now and the next few months, but for a longer period of time as well.