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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:07 pm on 2 November 2021.

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Photo of Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Labour 3:07, 2 November 2021

(Translated)

Thank you very much, Rhun. We are doing a lot now to try and reinforce the system—that is what our discussion was during recent weeks, particularly with Transport for Wales. So, those discussions have been ongoing with Transport for Wales to ensure that they see it as part of their responsibility to police this. As I said, we have also reached out to some of the shops, particularly the major shops. But, the fact is, we have to bring the public with us and we need to ensure that the the public understands that this is a responsibility on them as well; it is legislation. And, of course, there is a communication programme, which is very broad-ranging, which is already in place. Of course, we will do our best to ensure that people do hear those messages.

In terms of the vaccination booster programme, as I explained, what we're trying to do is ensure that people accept the call to have the booster in the correct order. We understand that that, sometimes, is longer than six months after the last injection. But, unfortunately, we were ready to give the booster sooner than we had the opportunity to start the process, because we had to wait for the JCVI—that's why we're in the situation where we were ready. But, of course, capacity is something that we have to work on, and we have to remember that there are still people in certain communities who still haven't had the first vaccine and we don't want to leave anyone behind. So, the vaccination system is quite complex, and so the messages are more complex still, but I do accept what you say in terms of the fact that people need to know when they are likely to receive this. They need some kind of expectation management—that's very important.

In terms of 12 to 15-year-olds, I think that about 45 per cent by now have been vaccinated. There are some restrictions in terms of why we haven't been able to go further with that, partly because many children have suffered from COVID and they can't have the vaccine within 28 days of having had COVID. So, we have to leave some time to pass. We will be reinforcing those messages.

In terms of the COVID passes, we made it clear that it was a compromise; we have to get this balance right. This is not a perfect science and I am pleased to hear that you will be supporting us in terms of, hopefully, going further with the COVID passes. In terms of going further into other areas—in terms of pubs—when I saw the crowds in Cardiff at the weekend, I was also somewhat concerned about what the pubs would look like. What we've said is if the situation doesn't improve, then we will have to consider passes in pubs and so forth, but we have to ensure that we work with the sector to ensure that whatever we do introduce is practical.

In terms of the technology, I'm not aware that the technology has improved yet, but I am very concerned about what Christmas will look like if we see the kind of scenes that we saw in Cardiff on the weekend everywhere in Wales, in terms of people mixing when COVID is still peaking.