Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 1:38 pm on 24 February 2021.
I don't have an individual figure to hand today on the number of front-line staff who have not taken up the offer of the vaccine. We do know we've got incredibly high levels of take-up from our front-line staff, including within the ambulance service. We also know that, unfortunately, there is a sewer of anti-vax information that, in particular, concerns people of working age, with some particularly outrageous claims made about both male and female fertility. So, we do understand there are people with real concerns about that misinformation.
There will also be a limited group of people who will have medical reasons why the vaccine isn't appropriate for them. That's a very small number of people, but I expect the matter to be not just resolved by the employer and trade unions working together, but by the positive encouragement for people to take up the vaccine. And I should say that I join with not just yourself, but also Jayne Bryant, in her recognition of what paramedics have done and all across the ambulance service. It's a much more wide-ranging organisation than the emergency end of the system, and the way in which they've had support from the military in undertaking their task, in making sure vehicles are ready, it's been a real team Wales effort, and I think everyone, as I say, should take real pride in what they continue to do in these, the most challenging of circumstances.