1. Will the Minister provide an update on the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine in south-east Wales? OQ56151

Thank you. On 11 January, I published our national vaccination plan, with key milestones and priorities for delivery. The plan reflects months of detailed NHS planning, together with support from colleagues in the military and local government. Within Gwent, 72 out of 74 GP practices are supporting the delivery of the vaccination programme, and five mass vaccination centres are also operational.

Thank you for that answer, Minister. It's really encouraging to hear that the roll-out rate is increasing at pace in the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board area. I know from anecdotal evidence and constituents getting in touch with me that this is indeed the case in Newport. What has been concerning my constituents is the communications and the suggestion that the Welsh Government's not going as quickly as possible. Many of those who are elderly and vulnerable in these first priority groups have been shielding for 10 months, and some have been outside only a handful of times. They and their families are desperate to know that they have not been forgotten and want to hear that the Government will leave no stone unturned to get this vaccine to them. Minister, please can you assure me and my constituents about the speed of the roll-out of the vaccine in Wales, and specifically in Newport, that the focus and priority is on delivering this vaccine as quickly and as safely as possible, and that those over 80 who haven't heard just yet will do so very, very soon?

I can assure you we are going as fast as possible. In particular, over this week, we've released 60,000 Pfizer vaccines into the system to help in mass vaccination centres. We also have a significant increase in our supply from the UK procurement programme of the AstraZeneca vaccine, so we'll be able to go much faster—again, both the care home residents and the over-80s. That's why those 72 general practices across the Gwent area are so important to us in reaching those first two category groups. So, I expect that, every week, we'll be publishing now—as I've committed to—more information, showing where we are with those priority groups and the successful roll-out. And I've also indicated that I think that health boards across Wales will be starting to issue invites to the over-70s over the next week, because I am confident that we will have vaccinated a high number of over-80s by the end of this week as well. So, Powys are already doing so, and I don't think Aneurin Bevan will be far behind. Again, I just want to say 'thank you' to all those staff who really are working above and beyond to help protect people right across the country. Aneurin Bevan, I think, are doing a fine job within that, as indeed are other health boards.

Minister, I'd like to second that—I think Aneurin Bevan are doing a fantastic job, from what I can see, and everyone is working so hard to get this vaccine out as soon as possible. But there seems to be a lot of nonsensical stuff going on. I'm getting many, many e-mails in my inbox about couples not being vaccinated at the same time. Obviously, we're on the elderly at the moment, and we're going down to the 70-year-olds. Can you guarantee that you—? Or, what are you doing to look into the fact that one member of a couple is being told a vaccination date, and then the other person is getting a date far removed from that? It just doesn't make sense. Obviously, they're elderly and getting to those points is an issue as well. So, please can you look into that, if you haven't already? Or, what have you done to ensure that that won't carry on, because I'm getting a lot of e-mails about this? Thank you.

Well, it would help if you could provide me with detail of the instances that you refer to, and it would also help to be clear about whether you've raised these individuals either with a general practice or with the health board. We want to make sure that the vaccination programme is rolled out as fast as possible, but also in a way that provides confidence and understands the challenges of how people do and don't live their lives. I've seen many examples, actually, where couples have been deliberately invited together to make sure they can have the vaccine at the same time. So, I'm not aware of the issue that you refer to, but if you provide me with some more details, then I'll happily look at it to try to resolve the issue. 

Across Islwyn, the Welsh national health service in its entirety is rising to the challenge of this pandemic, but there is still much concern about a misinformation campaign in circulation, namely that the vaccination programme is way off target and off track, and any such deliberate fear-mongering is exacerbating the anxiety and fear already present in our communities. The truth is, every day, we are vaccinating more and more people in Wales. The latest figures show that 161,900 people have had their first dose of the vaccine, an average of 10,000 people every day now receiving that first dose of the vaccine. So, every week, that vaccination programme is speeding up as more clinics are opened and more vaccines are available for the army of healthcare professionals administering vaccines, in 28 vaccination centres across Wales, increasing to 45, and 100 GP practices vaccinating, set to rise to 250 in the next fortnight. So, Minister, how would you assess the success of the vaccine roll-out currently across Islwyn with this backdrop, and how do you see that proceeding in the future?

Well, I think it's fair to say that we've made a modest start in comparison to other UK countries, but in terms of other countries around the world, we've made a really rapid start in the first few weeks. If you think of what's happened in the last three weeks, you'll see a really significant increase in the pace of our vaccination effort, as the infrastructure has been put in place to allow more mass vaccination centres to be delivered, and that's really important for use of the Pfizer vaccine. As we're getting more of the AstraZeneca supply, our primary care professionals in particular—general practice, with pharmacy, dentistry and optometry—are making use of their staff coming on board in the very near future as well. Actually, the figures today have gone on even further. We have now vaccinated with at least one dose of the vaccine nearly 176,000 people in Wales, nearly 14,000 people in the figures we've provided for the last day, and you can expect that, by the end of this week, we'll have made another significant step forward compared to last week. So, the pace really is increasing. The numbers demonstrate that, and I look forward to people in Islwyn having their vaccine in the very near future in very large numbers, and I'm very grateful to every general practice within the Islwyn constituency that is playing their part to vaccinate and to protect their residents as quickly as possible.