We hope that our vaccines will continue to be effective and that the national health service will not be overwhelmed. Our public health response will be based on the existing, well-established protocols for communicable diseases, and the surveillance and reporting of COVID-19 will take place alongside the reporting mechanisms for respiratory infections. We will begin to integrate our very successful COVID-19 vaccination programme with other preventative vaccines to maximise protection, based on the latest advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation and the office of the Chief Medical Officer for Wales. The programme will continue to focus on protecting our most vulnerable, and we will be offering a booster vaccine in the coming weeks to over-75s, older care home residents and the most vulnerable.

As I outlined three weeks ago, we will be offering a vaccine to every child between the ages of five and 11 later this month. This is a precautionary offer to increase children's immunity against severe COVID-19 in advance of a potential future wave, and this will also give them the best chance of a smooth autumn term after the summer holidays. I would urge families to talk about this offer now. There’s more information on the Public Health Wales website to help them make a decision.

I want to reiterate that if you haven’t had a vaccination yet, it's never too late. Almost 6.9 million doses of the vaccine have been delivered in just over a year. The vaccination programme has saved lives, and it continues to weaken the link between virus and serious illness.

Dirprwy Lywydd, we will also prepare for the worst, but in the hope, of course, that this doesn’t happen. I'm very mindful of the views of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies and the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group that future variants are highly likely to appear and that these may lead to more significant levels of direct harm than we have seen from the omicron variant.

Under the COVID urgent scenario, we have contingency plans in place to respond to a deteriorating public health situation. In such a situation, we would take the necessary actions to protect people’s health, by scaling back up our test, trace and protect service, and taking collective action to protect the most vulnerable. We have asked health boards to plan for a COVID urgent scenario, and in this scenario they will need to stand up surge capacity in the vaccination programme if a quick response should be needed once again.

Dirprwy Lywydd, I’m very pleased that I can say today, thanks to the fantastic vaccination programme, and to people across Wales for their hard work, sacrifice and patience, that we are poised to leave the public health emergency behind us and start a very different relationship, hopefully, with the virus.