4. Will the First Minister make a statement on the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines in South Wales East? OQ56297

I thank the Member for that question, Dirprwy Lywydd. Over 100,000 vaccinations have now been carried out in South Wales East, in line with the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

Thank you. First Minister, I want to ask you about vaccinations for people with learning disabilities living in care homes, which is an issue raised with me by a number of constituents. These families thought that their loved ones would be vaccinated in the first priority groups, due to the health Minister's pledge in this Chamber that all care home residents and staff would have received a vaccination by the end of January. But, care homes for people with learning disabilities were not included.

I've spoken to family members of residents with severe learning disabilities, who fear for their loved ones' safety, since people with learning disabilities have been six times more likely to die from COVID due to their vulnerability. I understand from Mencap that only 3,500 or so people live in residential or supported living settings. Given the phenomenal figures that you have just been quoting—34,000 vaccinations were delivered in Wales on Saturday alone—surely providing these vaccinations would have a negligible effect on the general roll-out. Finally, it should surely also be a responsible use of public resource, since caring for people with severe learning disabilities in hospital can be particularly difficult due to behavioural issues and a lack of language skills. So, First Minister, could I please therefore ask you to give serious consideration to changing this policy?

Well, Llywydd, I have to make it clear to the Senedd once again that this Welsh Government follows the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. The care homes that are included in the top four priority groups are the care homes identified by that committee. Where people with learning difficulties are captured by those top four priority groups, of course they will have been vaccinated. Where they are not, then they will appear in the next set of priority groups.

Now, it is no use Members here thinking that they know better than the JCVI. I have already heard from Mark Isherwood wanting me to overturn the JCVI advice and to put police officers further up the list. I've had questions on the floor of the Senedd by other Members wanting me to put teachers at the top of the list. Now, the Member wants me to overturn the JCVI advice for another group in the population. Every one of those groups has a case to make, and often a case that is compelling on its own terms, but the Welsh Government cannot overturn the advice that all four Governments of the United Kingdom are following.

Now, I noticed what the First Minister of Scotland, from the Member's sister party, said when she was being asked on the floor of the Scottish Parliament to do what she is asking me to do—to overturn the JCVI prioritisation list and to put people further up it than would be the case of the JCVI. And she said, on the floor of the Scottish Parliament, 'Our duty is to vaccinate in line with the JCVI recommendations.' I agree with the First Minister of Scotland there. That is what we are doing in Wales. That is what is happening in the area of Wales that the Member represents. And I cannot and will not do what I think would be an irresponsible thing and depart from the advice that we have received.

I've been in contact with constituents who've had the vaccine—both the Pfizer and the AstraZeneca vaccine—and two key questions that have been raised with me have been, first of all, about the timing for the second jab in the Aneurin Bevan health board area. Are we confident that they will be on course to receive that in the time that is designated? Would the First Minister give assurance on that? And also with regard to the AstraZeneca vaccine, is he confident that the efficacy of the vaccine will not be affected substantially by the South African variant and other variants? And, in that case, would there be a programme for booster jabs to be delivered via the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board for people in the Caerphilly constituency?

Well, Dirprwy Lywydd, I thank the Member for both of those important questions. On the timing of the second dose of the vaccine, I've been contacted by a number of people telling me how pleased they were that when they went away from the mass vaccination centre where they'd received their first jab, they were given the date and the time to come back for their second vaccination. I think that gave them a lot of confidence that the system here in Wales is already geared up for what will be, Dirprwy Lywydd, a major challenge over coming weeks and months, because, from now on, not only will we be offering a first vaccination to people in the next set of priority groups, but we will be offering a second vaccination to people who we've already offered a first to as we complete groups 1 to 4. That is a major challenge. But as you've seen, the health service in Wales has risen magnificently to the first challenge, and I'm confident that the plans are in place to allow that second dose of vaccine to be delivered in time with the advice that we have from the JCVI.

As to the efficacy of the AstraZeneca vaccination for the South African variant, there is still a great deal of work being done by scientists to assess that efficacy, and we get advice directly to the Welsh Government through those scientific communities. The preferable course of action, of course, is to make sure that we don't have the South African variant in circulation here in Wales, and a huge effort is going on to make sure that, in that small number of cases that have been identified, everything is being done to prevent onward transmission.

What we need to see, I believe, is a stronger set of defences at our borders. The UK Government's red list is the bare minimum of what needs to be done to make sure that all the gains that are being made in suppressing the virus and vaccinating our population are not put at risk by people coming into the United Kingdom from other parts of the world where further new variants may already be in the brew. So, work is going on on the efficacy of the AstraZeneca vaccination, but more could be done to mitigate the risk of those new variants coming into the United Kingdom in the first place.