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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:45 pm on 9 February 2021.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 4:45, 9 February 2021

We're doing a number of things on this. It's not just about the publication of the data we have; it is about that deliberate outreach into communities that every health board is doing. They've appointed people to undertake those outreach roles. It's also about the engagement that we need to continue to have in a variety of ways. The meeting that I am having tonight is only one part of it. The work of our staff in reaching out to communities is part of it as well. On the data, there is some data that we're looking to have clarified and tied up. It won't ever be perfect. That's because we don't have the ethnicity of every single member of Wales available in a general practice record. We do have a range of approximations that we can take with some of the data we have, which would give us an idea and an indication. I think that will confirm that there is a differential level of take-up. It's about being able not just to confirm that, but I think more than that, to understand what lies behind that, and to be able to address it. That really is, I'm afraid, about taking on some of the myths and some parts of distrust between communities and larger public services that we know exist. The more we can do, the better for all of us, because the sooner we have population coverage, the sooner we'll be into a different way of dealing with coronavirus, which, I'm afraid, we may not get to eliminate, but we may get to live with in a way where it's an endemic condition that we can be regularly protected against, and remember the harm that it's caused in these last 12 months.