5. The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 5) (Wales) (Amendment) (No. 19) Regulations 2021

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:14 pm on 9 November 2021.

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Photo of Joyce Watson Joyce Watson Labour 5:14, 9 November 2021

I've heard a lot about absence of evidence is not evidence in itself, but where there is evidence of absence, that is evidence in itself. So, if you have a lateral flow test, it is proof of absence of COVID. So, I just want to turn that on its head and maybe allow some on the benches that side to reflect on it. It is a fact, and it is evidenced, that those who are vaccinated are less likely to spread COVID around them. So, while the data on COVID passes and the latest restrictions are collected, logic and common sense do support this action. [Interruption.] In a minute, because I heard quite a lot of you earlier on. And they are popular—these COVID passes are popular. I don't know who you're speaking to, but the vast majority of my constituents get it, they understand it. If everyone at a venue is either vaccinated or COVID-negative, then it has to be safer for all of us to go there. That's what people are telling me—people who won't normally go out are saying to me, 'Actually, we will feel safer now'. They're good for businesses as well—not something I've actually heard you say—because the disease destroys economic confidence. That is not a cure. The vaccine passport does actually mean that it will be a cure for businesses, because people will have confidence in those businesses to go to those businesses. Without these measures, fewer people will attend those venues, fewer people will attend those events—certainly the people who speak to me.