3. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Update on Coronavirus

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:13 pm on 22 June 2021.

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Photo of Rhun ap Iorwerth Rhun ap Iorwerth Plaid Cymru 3:13, 22 June 2021

(Translated)

Thank you very much, Deputy Llywydd. I have four or five questions. First of all, following on from that final point you just made: do you have an update for us on the work that is being done in order to ensure that the booster vaccine can be provided in the autumn in accordance with what the JCVI has suggested is required?

Pushing that second dose out there as quickly as possible is crucial now, of course. I'm aware that there are different ways that people are to deal with their health boards: some are to expect a letter, others a phone call, others have to go online to make their own appointments; and that's what I did, ultimately, and I got my second vaccine yesterday. Do we need some consistency here or do we need to strengthen comms at a national level in terms of how people are meant to access that second dose as soon as possible? Because I have to admit that I was a little confused myself, and have been over the last few weeks.

Now students: many students of course will have had their first vaccination where they are at university, and then will return home to other parts of Wales or to England. So, can you explain what work is being done to facilitate that second dose, so that it can be provided without barriers, where people have changed addresses and letters have been lost, and so on?

The growth in the delta variant is a threat to our hospitals once again, and we very much hope that the vaccine will prevent a great increase in the numbers attending our hospitals. But what are you as a Government doing to strengthen the shift towards having more COVID-lite sites, so that other NHS activities aren't placed under unnecessary threat? Getting these COVID-lite sites is something that the Royal College of Surgeons has requested a number of times over the past few months, and they're still not seeing the move in that direction that they have requested.

One final question on asthma specifically, and the need for asthma sufferers to receive an additional vaccination. There's concern among Asthma UK that there are hundreds of thousands of people who have gone missing from NHS systems across the UK, and haven't been able to access that early vaccination. There is a list for flu vaccinations held by the NHS, so it strikes me that we're reinventing the wheel slightly here. So, can you look at the possibility of just going off that asthma list for flu vaccination in order to ensure that asthma sufferers do get boosters as soon as possible when we get to the autumn? Thank you.