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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:34 pm on 9 March 2021.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 3:34, 9 March 2021

I think people can have a high level of confidence about where we're going to get to, both in the middle of April, and, indeed, by the end of July, depending on supply. And it's supply that is the only issue that potentially holds us back. I think, to be fair, you'd have the same if you spoke to any of the NHS-led programmes in the UK. We could have delivered more by now if more supply was available. That's not a criticism; it's a statement of where we are, and I think that goes back to Angela Burns's questions as well. So, if you're waiting for your vaccine, and you're in groups 1 to 9, you can be confident that you will have had it, or should have been offered it, by the middle of April. I think that means we're in good shape to be offering the rest of the adult population in Wales their vaccine, if supplies hold up, from the middle of April onwards. And, again, the longer-term forecast on the stability of vaccine supply should mean we can do that by the end of July. It gets more uncertain the further into the future we are, but, in the conversations I've had not just with the UK Minister on vaccine supply, but other health Ministers in the UK, and, indeed, the two vaccine suppliers at present, both Pfizer and AstraZeneca,I think we will get a level of supply that allows us to do that. And that, again, will give us different choices about how the public can go about their business and return to more normality, all the while we're managing the risk of what is still an unfinished pandemic. But I'm grateful to hear that the constituency you represent are proud of what we're doing in this NHS-led programme.