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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:11 pm on 23 February 2021.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Rhun ap Iorwerth Rhun ap Iorwerth Plaid Cymru 3:11, 23 February 2021

Diolch. Thank you for the statement and, again, I would want to thank everybody involved in the quite remarkable vaccination efforts in all parts of Wales. The first issue I want to raise is on communication. The First Minister said, a week ago, on the Radio 4 Today programme, that people aged over 50 were imminently about to receive their invitations for their vaccine. He said, and I quote, that

'People aged over 50 will already be booked in for their appointments next week... and those people will be getting their vaccine from Monday onwards.'

We know that's not the case. We haven't reached the 50-somethings in large numbers yet. Priority groups will be done in turn. Now, I'm sure the First Minister wasn't trying to mislead, but it did cause a lot of confusion, so please can we be careful with communication?

I want to turn to the possible broadening of vaccination priority categories. Again, I have regularly called for bringing into the prioritisation lists those working in key roles, in schools, in public transport, the police, other emergency services and so on. Your Government has consistently said, 'No, we'll stick with the JCVI advice', but can I urge you to consider a different approach? There's nothing wrong at all in the JCVI priority list; the older you are and the more fragile your health is, you are more at risk as an individual—I think that's clear enough. But there's another risk factor, and that's how much you're exposed to the virus. Say you have two 45-year-olds, both healthy, not in the top nine priority groups. The one who goes in to clean a school or teach or assist in classes full of pupils and other staff faces more of a risk of being exposed to the virus than the 45-year-old working, say, in an administrative job and working from home. To me, it makes absolute sense that the former should be prioritised somewhat over the latter.

Also, can I encourage again a very early change in the rules on vaccinating people with learning disabilities? We're hearing positive noises. We're talking about people who may be vulnerable not just physically but also vulnerable in terms of being able to cope with contracting COVID; just get them through the vaccination system, please.

And with unpaid carers too, there's still confusion on this. Yes, we know that unpaid carers in general are now in group 6, but we're desperate to have those clear national guidelines so people know where they stand.

And finally, I've been in contact with a care home owner today. He described a hole in the wall of protecting care homes, with 6,000 unvaccinated care workers, and that's certainly a worry, but the point he wanted to make with me was that three of his staff have been told they can't have their vaccine for a number of weeks—that's something I'm going to be taking up with the health board—but he's concerned about a number of staff who don't want to receive the vaccine because they have believed some of the anti-vaccine mantra so prevalent in parts of social media. I know this is something that you're concerned about as well. I asked you last week during a briefing session what work Welsh Government is doing to share a counter-narrative debunking those myths, so I wonder if you could update us on work being done in that arena. Thank you.