I'm very pleased that you agree with our position in relation to the booster vaccination. The fact is that we've been ready to roll out the booster vaccination for a long time in Wales. We've been waiting for that JCVI advice for a very long time, which is why we are able, now, to press the button. Those invitations will be going out at the beginning of next week, and hopefully, the first people will be coming through in the following week. So, we're all ready to run. You're quite right; it's going to be a real challenge to get that done at the same time as the vaccination for the 12 to 15-year-olds. But we have been planning for this; we've got all of the plans in place. We've been working with health boards for a very long time and they're all ready to roll. So, I'm very confident that that is not going to be a problem to run both of those in parallel.

In terms of the practicalities of how that's going to happen, most of it in relation to 12 to 15-year-olds will probably take place via mass vaccination centres, but there will be some examples where this is done, in particular, in some of the larger schools. So, that will be available to them. There will be an opportunity, therefore, in the mass vaccination centres for the children to be accompanied by their parents. Obviously, they will then have the opportunity to hear the pros and cons of this situation. Of course, it is a voluntary situation that we are talking about. We are not talking about compulsory vaccinations.

In relation to elective surgery, you are quite right to point out that, already, some elective surgery has been postponed in Hywel Dda. That is also true in Betsi Cadwaladr. I was speaking to some of the health workers in Glan Clwyd and Ysbyty Gwynedd last week. They are under incredible pressure. As you know, they have now stopped visiting into those hospitals and others around Wales because of the community spread of COVID.

You are quite right; waiting times are extremely difficult at the moment. Actually, a lot of the pressure on the NHS at the moment is because we are unable to get patients from hospital who are ready to be discharged. There are over 1,000 patients in hospital at the moment who could be discharged, but because of the brittle state of the care sector, they are unable to be discharged. So, we are spending a lot of time at the moment really focused on this, having weekly meetings with representatives of the Welsh Local Government Association and with health boards, to make sure that we can address what is actually a short-term issue before we address the longer term plan, now that we have got a better sense of what the future looks like, certainly in terms of financing from the UK Government. 

The same is true for accident and emergency. There is a very active team within the Welsh Government just keeping the pressure on. There is a plan in place to address these issues, so that is being acted upon. But, it is very difficult if there are no beds. That's the bottom line. You can't offload people if there are no beds, so that's something that we are trying to address urgently.

In relation to surgical hubs, you will have heard over the summer that we have announced an extra £140 million to address the situation in relation to the backlog, on top of the £100 million that's already been announced. I was fortunate enough to have a conversation yesterday with representatives from the Royal College of Surgeons, who were giving me their ideas in terms of how we should be addressing this issue. Regional centres are certainly something that we are considering, and we are just working through the proposals that have come from health boards at the moment.

In relation to vaccine passports, we have already been deliberating on this issue. There are, as you say, a lot of practical and ethical issues for us to consider, which is why we haven't come to a conclusion on this yet. What I can tell you is that, if we were to go down this route, it is not something that you can just switch on—make a decision one day, and see it enacted the next. So, that's why you will need to think about putting, possibly, some legislation in place. So, there are lots of things to consider in this space. That is something that is still under consideration. So, I can't give you a final answer on that, but hopefully, by the end of this week, the First Minister will be able to make an announcement on that.