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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:19 pm on 2 March 2021.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 3:19, 2 March 2021

Okay. So, I just want to be absolutely clear that the fall in supply that we've transparently highlighted, that we're expecting to see resolved from the middle of this week onwards with increased supplies, has meant that we have allocated the vaccine supply available to us on a properly proportionate basis to every part of Wales. It is absolutely not the case that any one region of Wales has been preferred over another, it's absolutely not the case that any one region of Wales has somehow been treated less favourably. I do find it rather depressing that even at this stage in the pandemic there's still an appeal to a special treatment being provided to other areas of the country. It just simply isn't how we've approached all of the really difficult choices and challenges we've had through the pandemic. And I think that appeal to blaming bad people in different parts of the country and preferring their own as opposed to taking a national approach doesn't help any of us.

On the challenge of carers allowance and unpaid carers, I think I've dealt with how we're dealing with unpaid carers at some length today, with the guidance we've issued last week, with the online form that will be available across the country by Monday at the latest, and the fact that that is a generous approach, to understand who unpaid carers are. And once they're entered into the Welsh immunisation system, they will then have an appointment generated for them, including their second appointment.

We are in a different position on carers allowance recipients in this regard, and that is that, if you receive carers allowance, then that entitles you to receive the vaccine. The challenge we have, though—and this is a point of some irritation and frustration to me; I don't think it's an acceptable position—the challenge we have is that the Department for Work and Pensions are delivering, to colleagues in NHS England, their list of recipients of carers allowance first before providing the same information for Wales. I've made it clear that I don't think that's acceptable. The Department for Work and Pensions, in this instance, are not an English Government department; they're a UK Government department with similar responsibilities for every part of the union they administer for, and I don't think it's acceptable that people in Wales who receive carers allowance won't have their appointments generated because the Department for Work and Pensions have chosen not to deliver that information to Wales on the same timescale as England. The positive, though, is that I do think that, as soon as that information is available to us, we'll be able to generate those appointments very quickly. I understand that people who are in receipt of carers allowance may be frustrated at even a marginal delay of another few days more, but once that information is available from the Department for Work and Pensions, we will then generate those appointments for those people to make sure people get their vaccines swiftly and on time. And I think we're in good shape to complete priority groups 1 to 9, including all of the carers we've discussed today, by the middle of April. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer.