Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:16 pm on 22 June 2021.
Thank you very much. In terms of the consistency of communication, I think that the guidance is very clear on the websites of the health authorities in terms of where people should go. I think it's difficult, because people do receive their information now from so many different sources, and I think that what we're trying to do is to respond to what is appropriate, particularly where we see that fewer people are coming forward. There is a specific issue at the moment with black African and Caribbean communities, and the 30 to 49 age group; there is a problem there. We have to focus on where they go for their information. So, we do a great deal of detailed work where we see there is an issue. I was up in Wrexham on Friday, and it was interesting because we'd seen that there was a problem in one area of Wrexham. They'd moved the vaccination centre into a leisure centre in the middle of that area where fewer people were coming forward, and on the weekend they were going to go to the centre of the town, so that they went to where people would be passing by. I think that is something that we're making progress on.
In terms of students, it's clear that it is possible for people to walk in and receive their vaccine. It's important that people understand that, be it the first or second dose. My son came home over the weekend and the first thing I did was to ensure that he went for his vaccination, and it was interesting to see he wasn't offered the vaccine in England, where he was a student. So, I'm pleased to see that we are in the vanguard in that regard.
In terms of those COVID-lite settings, what we're trying to do is discuss at the moment with health boards, and we're eager to see whether we can see health boards working together a bit more, and having those more regional centres. You'll be aware that, if you have a hot area and a cold area, it's difficult to have an A&E in that area. You try to close down an A&E department in a hospital. I don't think you're asking for that, but that is a restriction on the possibility of changing one hospital into a COVID-lite centre.
In terms of asthma, I know that, in the first instance, people who had serious asthma were in that first cohort of people who were prioritised. I was aware that there was a different group in terms of the flu vaccine. There was a restriction on how much stock we had of the vaccine at that time, and as we go into the booster phase we'll see whether we'll have additional supply, and then perhaps it'll be easier for us to go back to that report and the list that we had for the flu.