Covid-19: Vaccines and Pregnancy

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick Excerpts

Monday 14th June 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, when it comes to conspiracy theories, we have found that the best people to communicate on that are those who women and mothers trust and are dealing with during their pregnancy, typically their nurses and doctors. We have ensured that all the right materials are there, so that difficult questions can be answered in a collaborative dialogue. That is the most effective way of dealing with this.

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, can the Minister comment on or indicate the extent of the level of co-operation between the UK Government and the devolved Administrations regarding vaccination take-up and pregnant women?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, the vaccine programme has worked extremely well across all the nations of the UK, and there is a huge amount of collaboration, particularly between the CMOs. Material is routinely shared between all the countries, and I am not aware of any differential outcomes in any particular part of the UK.

Covid-19 Update

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick Excerpts

Tuesday 8th June 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, I pay tribute to my noble friend for his advocacy on behalf of Nepal; we are all extremely moved by the stories from Nepal and the challenge that it has had from Covid. We are extremely supportive of his initiative for both medical supplies and the vaccine but, as I said, there is a sequencing challenge here. Our priority as a Government is the British people. It is important that we see the job through. As the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, pointed out, there is a threshold to which we need to get the British public to ensure that the R rate remains below one and that the new India variant, or any other variant, does not run amok and drive up hospitalisation in the UK. Until we have reached that point, we must focus on the job at hand. In the meantime, and in parallel, we are doing absolutely everything we can to grow global manufacture of the vaccine and ensure that countries such as Nepal receive secure and reliable supply. My noble friend should be reassured that we are absolutely firm in that commitment.

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, we have often heard it said that we will not all be safe until the whole world is safe. Today, UNICEF, the children’s charity, is lobbying the G7 Ministers, asking for an ongoing distribution of vaccines to poor and developing countries, rather than supplying surplus vaccines at the end of our programme, because they may not be able to use them in the best possible way at that stage. Will the Minister, further to the answers he has already given, go back to his ministerial colleagues and the Prime Minister and urge them to please undertake that global vaccination programme, along with other G7 countries, now? The WHO said yesterday that inequitable vaccination is a threat to all nations.

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

I completely endorse the sentiments of the noble Baroness and can absolutely reassure her that this is top of the agenda for the G7 leaders’ meeting later this week. The Prime Minister will absolutely be ramming home the message that she put extremely well. Roughly 1 billion vaccinations have been done around the world so far; that leaves another 7 billion or 8 billion to do. We need manufacturing on a scale that the world simply does not have today to see that job through. That is why the UK has contributed so much through the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is a wonderful, portable, cheap and flexible platform for creating vaccines for the world. We are ensuring that that magic source is available to all those who can contribute vaccine manufacturing capacity anywhere in the world. In the meantime, we will ensure that any capacity that we have after we have done the British public is made available, but we have to see the job through here in the UK. It would be utterly counterproductive if the UK, having got so far, tripped over at the last hurdle.

Covid-19 Internal Review

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick Excerpts

Thursday 20th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

I am enormously grateful to the NAO for the powerful report that it has published. It said many complimentary things about the Government’s handling of the pandemic. I am grateful to noble Lords for the counsel and challenge that they have given here in this Chamber. I point out the vast amount of data and information that we have published, which is at the disposal of the public and parliamentarians. However, confidential advice from officials to Ministers on a means-of-working review is not the kind of thing that I think adds to this sort of debate, and for that reason it is most appropriately kept confidential.

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, this morning on BBC News there has been a suggestion that the Indian variant has been due in large part to ineffective track and trace. Would the Minister like to comment on that?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, I do not think that is correct. The noble Baroness is right to ask the question because we should always challenge our systems, but track and trace has really delivered for the country when it comes to the containment of the variants. We were extremely concerned about the Manaus variant. That was why we instigated Project Eagle, an intense application of testing in communities on a very large scale and forensic tracing, putting huge resources into tracking down the movements of those who tested positive with a VOC. We then had the South African variant, which has been successfully contained. We could not have imagined that an Indian VOC of this kind could make its way into this country with such high transmissibility, and I pay tribute to those working in track and trace who have bought us an enormous amount of time so that we can bring in surge testing and surge vaccination to contain and minimise the spread of this variant.

Osimertinib Cancer Treatment

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick Excerpts

Tuesday 18th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, I reject the accusation of complacency. We have worked unbelievably hard with Northern Irish stakeholders, the pharmaceutical industry and EU colleagues to ensure the smooth running of the supply of medicines in Northern Ireland. The facts speak for themselves: so far, they have run extremely smoothly indeed. I reassure the noble Baroness that the UK Government are committed to parity of access to medicines across the UK, including Northern Ireland. Despite different approval routes, we have ensured that all patients have access to medicines at the same time, and we will maintain that commitment.

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, will the Minister commit to meet the pharmaceutical industry, otherwise known as PAGB, which I met several weeks ago and which told me about problems that could ensue from 1 January next year in relation to the availability of over-the-counter medicines in Northern Ireland, due to the requirements of the protocol? Will the Minister undertake to meet this organisation to ensure that there are immediate discussions between the UK and the EU to resolve any ongoing difficulties and impediments?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

I note the point made by the noble Baroness. As I mentioned in relation to the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Jolly, on this issue, it is not one that I am not aware of, but I would be pleased to meet with the party she described in order to understand it better.

Social Care: Person-centred Dementia Care

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick Excerpts

Monday 17th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Baroness puts the case for supported housing social care for those with low levels of dementia extremely well. It is slightly beyond the purview of the Department of Health, but the case she makes is strong. I would be glad to go back to the department and find out if any measures are taking place.

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Non-Afl) [V]]

[Inaudible.]

Covid-19: One Year Report

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick Excerpts

Thursday 25th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley. In this instance, I am supporting the regret Motion in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton. I thank the Minister for the explanation of the regulations and the note on what has happened in the past year. I pay tribute to all those nurses, doctors, ancillary staff and carers, as well as the scientists who brought us the vaccination programme. Who would have thought it? If any of us could have imagined a year ago that more than 126,000 people in the UK would die with Covid and that there would be 4.3 million cases, we would rightly have been dumbstruck.

This Government have made very serious errors in the intervening period. They have taken too long for lockdown and wasted vast amounts of public money on their failed test and trace scheme and unsuitable PPE equipment. Therefore, I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, and many others that there is a need for a public inquiry into the handling of this pandemic by the Government. A year is a long time in politics and it is a long time with coronavirus for the many people who have lost loved ones, who have suffered from Covid themselves and who have been isolated and marginalised because they have had to shield.

Thankfully, we now have a vaccination programme under way and, by Tuesday of this week, 41% of the population had received a first vaccination. Credit where it is due: that is a very good start. However, do not lose sight of the fact that just 3.3% had received both shots by that date, which makes the row over the supply and use of the AstraZeneca vaccination even worse than it first seems. Concentration on the vital issue of getting people across the globe vaccinated would be a good idea because we are all in this together, right across the world. Therefore, why are we wasting time and effort on a row that could cost lives?

London has laid claim to millions of doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 jab, produced in a Dutch factory, sparking a fierce battle with the European Commission, which says that they should be used in the EU. I note that, as of last night, there was an indication from both the UK and the EU that they would work together—perhaps, in the wind-up, the Minister could provide us with an update on that. I will not try to go into the details of the opposing sides, but I stress that the Covid virus does not respect borders. France and Germany have had fresh outbreaks and, in spite of regulations, it will inevitably reach these shores. We ignore this at our peril.

If different nations fail to work together, we will all suffer. Fighting over a fair distribution of the different vaccines is humiliating and embarrassing. This is not some blame game of who claimed this or that; this is not just about health in the UK. It is about global health and our global interdependence. Vaccinations will be a part of our lives for some time and we are very thankful for the vaccines, but we need to move away from the notion that protecting people is merely a local, or even national, matter. It is an international matter, because a vaccinated world protects us all.

Health and Social Care Update

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick Excerpts

Monday 22nd March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Lord puts the situation well. I do not agree with every aspect of his assessment, but his concerns are shared by the Government. We keep the whole situation under review, but the bottom line is that we do not know the impact of the variants of concern on the vaccine and vice versa. We keep the situation very closely monitored. The measures in place are entirely proportionate to the threat we face but, should that escalate, we will not hesitate to take the necessary decisions.

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, in commending the rollout of the vaccination programme, could the Minister indicate whether the Government have made arrangements for its continuation in subsequent years? What discussions have there been and potential arrangements made with the devolved Administrations on this?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, we very much hope that the vaccination programme being delivered today will lead to an inflection point in the whole country’s approach to vaccinations overall. That is not just for Covid, but for flu, HPV and other prophylactics. We are on the brink of a massive change in our mindset regarding preventive medicine. There is an opportunity here for us to completely change the way in which we do healthcare—from an emphasis on late-stage and acute medicine to preventive early-stage medicine. The stakes are enormous. We are determined to grab this opportunity with both hands and we will take our friends in the devolved authorities with us.

Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) (England) (Amendment) (No. 7) Regulations 2021

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick Excerpts

Monday 22nd March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Chapman, on her maiden speech. We worked together in the other place when we were Members there, so I look forward to working with her in this House.

I support the Motion in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton. The regulations should have been laid earlier, despite the warning from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies on 21 January that:

“Reactive, geographically targeted travel bans cannot be relied upon to stop importation of new variants”


of Covid-19. Why was this the case? Why are we dealing with this legislation in retrospect? In fact, the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, has referred to the subsequent regulations, which we will no doubt debate in future weeks.

There is a view that the Government failed to prevent the Brazilian strain of Covid-19 entering the UK, that the policy applies only to the 33 red-list countries and that 99% of passengers arriving in the UK are therefore exempt. So, could the Minister indicate what action the Government will take to ensure comprehensive hotel quarantine for all UK arrivals in order to prevent the importation of new variants of Covid-19? Is there not an onus of legal responsibility on the Government to ensure the public health protection of all our citizens? In asking that question, I do commend the Government on the rollout of the vaccination programme.

There is also a view that under these new regulations, a passenger could avoid their managed quarantine by separating the legs of their journey. Is there not a case for the Government to review their hotel quarantine policy to make it fit for purpose?

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Russell of Liverpool) (CB)]

The noble Lord, Lord Randall of Uxbridge, has withdrawn, so I call the noble Lord, Lord Bhatia.

Women’s Health Strategy

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick Excerpts

Tuesday 9th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, participants in clinical trials for breast and ovarian cancer not only take the medication as part of those clinical trials, whether they are double-blind or whatever, but give information about their genomic background and their ongoing assessments. Would it be possible, subject to their permission, to use that information from women as part of the strategy for updating and improving women’s health?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

The noble Baroness is way ahead of me on that extremely specific point. I would be very happy to understand it more clearly, and if she could write to me with the details, I would be happy to take it on board.

Covid-19: Vaccination Programme

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick Excerpts

Wednesday 24th February 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, I do not agree with the noble Lord’s analysis. We are sometimes constrained by supply, but I am reassured that we will hit the targets that I articulated. London has a younger demographic, which is why the rollout percentages can seem lower than in other areas.

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, will the Minister outline the Government’s strategy to address those areas and people who are reluctant to take up the vaccine? Those of us who have had it know that it is the passport to our freedom.

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, we have an extremely sophisticated and energetic programme in this regard. Let me flag that the most important influencers in anyone’s decision on whether to take the vaccine are the people whom they know and love. The best way to encourage vaccine uptake is to take the vaccine yourself.