Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 1:44 pm on 19 January 2021.
As a matter of fact, we're not the worst home nation. We've now caught up with and are tracking the progress in Scotland, and I expect us to go even faster during the rest of this week, as I've said repeatedly not just this afternoon, but also in other statements and interviews that I've given over the last couple of days. We are accelerating the roll-out, and, as I say, look at the figures, not just in the last few weeks where we've seen a week-on-week increase in the roll-out, but by the end of this week, when you'll see a further increase in the roll-out in Wales. I believe our NHS staff deserve praise for that increasing roll-out, and you'll see more of that moving forward.
When it comes to international comparisons, of course, Wales is the fifth best country in the world at present, but we want to compare well with every other part of the UK. That's the commitment of our staff. That's the commitment of this Government. More people will be protected. The limiting step, as every other health Minister has acknowledged when being questioned about this, is supply. Those general practices that have not had all of the AstraZeneca supply they would have expected, it's simply a matter of delivery to them. But I am confident that the assurances we have had in every single UK nation about vaccine supply increasing will be met, and if they are, we will continue to increase our delivery. That means more people being protected at a faster rate in every community right across Wales.