The COVID-19 Vaccine Roll-out

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:28 pm on 12 January 2021.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Angela Burns Angela Burns Conservative 2:28, 12 January 2021

Thank you for that. The first thing I have to say is that the vaccinations are a light in a very, very dark tunnel, and I'm deeply grateful, as I know millions of us are, to those amazing scientists who've come up with the vaccine programmes of all the different countries in such a short space of time. It's so important to get that vaccine roll-out into the community, because we all know that by tackling the community, then we can start to drive down this terrible coronavirus. I just want to pose two questions to you, where I've come across barriers or things that could be potential barriers to the roll-out of that vaccine in our community, because I think that time is of the essence, and it's very important that you and everyone else is really aware of this.

The first is that I've had GPs in Pembrokeshire come to me deeply concerned because district nurses have been told that in order to be able to vaccinate, they need to undertake basic life support training. It just strikes me, first of all, that district nurses, of all of us, will understand and know basic life support. It's a function of being a front-line healthcare worker. Secondly, they vaccinate every single day, for flu and all sorts of things. I did hear your answer to Paul Davies, and I do understand that some of the vaccinations do have side effects and we have to be really well aware of things like anaphylactic shock et cetera. But I wondered if you would have a look at this and see if that and those other barriers are stopping people who are trained professionals, who are already in the health service, from being able to be part of the vaccination programme, because I think it is key that we get as many people out there vaccinating as possible. 

And the second part is: I wonder if you are aware or can explain why health boards and, to my understanding, Public Health Wales, chose not to go down the route of getting a wholesale distribution licence for the vaccine so that they could then buy and sell it on, transfer it straight to the general practices, which would help again with the speedy deployment of the vaccine in the community, instead of the GPs having to go through quite an arcane ordering process, setting up new rules and regulations. Both of these have been queries that have been raised with me, and I'd be very grateful for your view on them either now or in a subsequent letter.