3. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Update on COVID-19 Vaccinations

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:33 pm on 26 January 2021.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 3:33, 26 January 2021

It's good to hear praise for health boards, which I think are doing an extraordinary job in dealing with all of the pressures that our national health service face in this, the most extraordinary event that we have had to live through. This really is a genuine once-in-a-century event. No-one has had to deal with a pandemic like this, in modern times at least. 

When it comes to vaccine delivery, and in terms of supply, as I said, I'm having weekly meetings with Nadhim Zahawi, who is the joint Minister working between the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial strategy and the health department on vaccines, about the challenge over the messaging. We have relationships with Pfizer because of their broader interests and research in Wales. You'll be aware of the partnership that they've entered into with Swansea University and their interest in value-based healthcare; that's part of the reason they came to invest in Wales rather than another part of the United Kingdom, for that significant partnership. And also, there's the interest we have with AstraZeneca, who have their fill and finish plant in Wrexham. So, we're having conversations with them directly too. It's been a very practical working relationship between my officials—and the conversations I've had too. We're certainly in the position where they are both looking to increase their supplies, not just for the UK, but for the rest of Europe as well. There's a significant opportunity to help protect many, many citizens right across not just the continent but across the world, of course, and I'm very pleased that AstraZeneca have given a commitment to provide cost-price vaccines to other parts of the world. 

In terms of why we've made such progress in Islwyn, and indeed across Gwent and the whole of Wales, it's really because there's such a 'can do' approach. There is a real team Wales approach going through our NHS, through partners in local government, through the military assistance we've had, and that is a key factor in this. Our teams recognise that we are doing something for the nation here that will protect and save many, many lives, and bring us to the point where we can make more normal choices again, and be able to release some of the freedoms that we have all had to give up to keep us alive. I look forward to the day when the vaccine programme really has provided that level of protection to the public and we can look forward to much better figures for our national health service, not just with COVID but with non-COVID matters too. Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer.