Covid-19: Vaccines

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts
Monday 1st February 2021

(3 years, 1 month ago)

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Lord Bethell Portrait Lord Bethell (Con)
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I join the noble Lord in paying tribute to the good work of the Northern Ireland Health Minister, Robin Swann, whom I commend for his collaborative approach during this entire pandemic. I reassure the noble Lord that we are allocating doses on the business-as-usual, Barnett formula split, with 2.85% going to Northern Ireland. I pay tribute to the NHS there, where 214,601 people have had their first dose. A further 24,323 have had their second dose, and I reassure the noble Lord that we will maintain that velocity of delivery in the weeks to come.

Lord Clark of Windermere Portrait Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, when I received the Pfizer vaccine, I was given a leaflet that stated

“you should receive a second dose of the same vaccine … 21 days later to complete the vaccination series. Protection against COVID-19 disease may not be … effective until at least 7 days after the second dose.”

Now that 21 days has been extended to 77 to 84 days, what is the efficacy of the vaccine after a gap of six weeks and three months?

Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation and Linked Households) (England) Regulations 2020

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts
Thursday 7th January 2021

(3 years, 2 months ago)

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Lord Clark of Windermere Portrait Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, here in snowy Cumbria we have lately witnessed a massive increase in cases of the new mutation of the virus, with Carlisle having almost 1,100 cases per 100,000. One reason for this increase is the influx of thousands of visitors who often unwittingly carry coronavirus.

The guidance for the current lockdown urges people not to travel out of their own district. Under the first lockdown there was similar guidance, but there was a critical difference in that it was enshrined in law. This time, unfortunately, this is not the case; it is only guidance. Thus the police cannot, as they did previously, prevent people entering the county, possibly spreading the disease.

Will the Minister consider this particular proposal to enshrine the guidance in law? Doing so would reduce transmission of the virus and save the lives of many thousands of people.

Coronavirus Vaccine

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts
Thursday 3rd December 2020

(3 years, 3 months ago)

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Lord Bethell Portrait Lord Bethell (Con)
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I thank my noble friend for his kind words. I reassure him that everyone in Britain who wants a vaccine will get one. In fact, we are going to do everything that we can to encourage everyone in Britain to have a vaccine. We believe that prevention is better than cure, and that vaccines such as the ones coming down the pipeline offer the best possible fightback against this horrible disease. With regard to the different properties of the vaccine, his observation is entirely right: it is likely that the different vaccines have different properties, not least that some are much easier to transport than others, but some might work better, for example, with children or with those susceptible to other conditions. We do not have full data on the other vaccines so it is impossible to make those comparisons at this stage, but I assure him that when we have the data we will make sensible decisions along those lines.

Lord Clark of Windermere Portrait Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab) [V]
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I thank the Minister for being so frank and admitting that the initial rollout will not be uniform throughout the country this year. I want to ask him about those individuals prioritised for the vaccine on the grounds of age or having weaker immune systems—specifically, who will identify those individuals? Initially the role of GP surgeries was highlighted for that task. Is that still the case? What will happen in those GP surgeries—there are quite a number of them—that have no GPs? Will the nurse practitioners be able to perform the role of identifying those individuals? I would like a specific answer to that because it is important in the longer term for a great many people.

Baroness Garden of Frognal Portrait The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Garden of Frognal) (LD)
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I remind noble Lords of the request for brevity.

Covid-19 Update

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts
Thursday 12th November 2020

(3 years, 4 months ago)

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Lord Bethell Portrait Lord Bethell (Con)
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My Lords, I am afraid I cannot offer a firm schedule or confirmed dates for the rollout because they depend on the independent judgment of the MHRA, the CMO and the JCVI. These important decisions are out of our grasp, but it is clear that the progress made by Pfizer, AstraZeneca and other companies in the vaccine’s pipeline has been dramatically quicker than had initially been expected. We are making preparations to have the NHS ready for the beginning of December in case a vaccine is available by then.

Lord Clark of Windermere Portrait Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, this just highlighted the key role of GPs in any vaccine rollout, but in parts of the country there is a dire shortage of GPs with, on occasion, surgeries being run by nurse practitioners and other specialist nurses to great effect. Will the Minister check that, in the absence of GPs, nurse practitioners will have, first, full authority to activate any initial planning; secondly, empowerment to undertake the necessary continuing administration for the vaccination rollout; and thirdly, current authorisation to prescribe and vaccinate applicable in any national rollout?

Lord Bethell Portrait Lord Bethell (Con)
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I thank the noble Lord for his championing of nurse practitioners, because we are going to rely on all qualified healthcare workers to administer an injection to support this huge project—one of the largest of its kind in recent national history. I also emphasise the role of pharmacists who will, where appropriate, deliver the vaccine as well. We need a massive, mass-scale effort to deliver this vaccine. We will be empowering all those qualified to deliver the injection to do so and we are extremely grateful to them, including nurse practitioners, for their help in this matter.

Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Leicester) Regulations 2020

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts
Wednesday 29th July 2020

(3 years, 8 months ago)

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Lord Clark of Windermere Portrait Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, we have all watched the progress in Leicester with the lockdown and I very much agreed with the noble Lord, Lord Liddle, when he emphasised the point about learning lessons. I feel that we probably have, because I perceive an evolution of approach. We have seen a different approach in Bradford, and in Oldham, again, there is more finessing—and I learned only today that the next borough in the north-west likely to suffer these problems is Stockport.

This raises an issue, because these are local authorities in their own right. But what will the Government do with problems that run across local authority boundaries? I have bored the House ad nauseam by talking about the Lake District National Park, where 40,000 of us residents welcome 19 million visitors a year, which puts immense strain on our already poor local health service. But the three authorities covered by the Morecambe Bay health authority have among the highest rates of infection across the UK. If we have a gross influx of visitors from the affected areas, which now seem to be around Manchester, will the Government, if there is a spike, take urgent action to stop the staycation happening in the Lake District National Park?

Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) Regulations 2020

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts
Friday 24th July 2020

(3 years, 8 months ago)

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Lord Clark of Windermere Portrait Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, under official definitions, taxis are defined as public service vehicles. They are probably among the most dangerous of our public service vehicles, being small and enclosed, yet the Government have seen fit not to require the wearing of face masks in taxis. That is a very dangerous move. It is dangerous specifically to taxi drivers, some of whom have died following the government regulations. Many of our citizens have no alternative but to use taxis. Will the Government protect them by insisting on the wearing of face masks in taxis, as for other public service vehicles?

Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2020

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts
Thursday 25th June 2020

(3 years, 9 months ago)

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Lord Clark of Windermere Portrait Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, we all know that certain areas of the country have suffered more than most from coronavirus, mainly the big cities but not entirely so. In my own county of Cumbria, we have three of the worst areas of the country, which have twice the average compared with the rest of the country.

I suggest that any response in which we loosen up will have to include a local variant if there is a resurgence of coronavirus. In particular, take those areas with many visitors. The Lake District National Park has 19 million visitors a year, with a resident population of 40,000. It is important that we have an assurance today from the Minister—and I hope we will get one—that if there is a resurgence of coronavirus in the national park then the priority will go to protecting the lives of the people who live there as opposed to the understandable desires of visitors who come and marvel at the area’s beauties; they are here but gone tomorrow, while others live here. I worry whether the Government have the will-power and the ability to stand up to the overwhelming tourist industry if there is a crisis. I hope they will do so and protect local residents.

Nurses: Recruitment

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts
Thursday 18th June 2020

(3 years, 9 months ago)

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Asked by
Lord Clark of Windermere Portrait Lord Clark of Windermere
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To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to facilitate the recruitment of nurses onto degree courses beginning in September 2020.

Lord Bethell Portrait The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Lord Bethell) (Con) [V]
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My Lords, the health and education sectors are working jointly to increase applications and places. The Government announced 5,000 more healthcare places from September. In England, nursing students can access more funding worth at least £5,000 per academic year. During July in clearing, there will be marketing campaigns aimed at students considering nursing.

Lord Clark of Windermere Portrait Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, one reason why we were so ill prepared for Covid-19 was that the NHS was short of over 40,000 nurses. Will the Government ensure that the number of nursing places available at universities this coming September will significantly begin to reduce that dire shortage of nurses?

Lord Bethell Portrait Lord Bethell [V]
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I reassure the noble Lord, Lord Clark, that from September 2020 eligible pre-registration students in English universities studying nursing, midwifery or one of the many allied health professional courses will benefit from additional funding of £5,000 per academic year. The correct number of places will be made available to hit our objective of 50,000 more nurses by 2025.

Covid-19: Masks

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts
Thursday 11th June 2020

(3 years, 9 months ago)

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Lord Clark of Windermere Portrait Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, I am pleased to be here supporting the increased use of face masks in public—so ably argued by my noble friend. In his argument, which he made with conviction and authority, he used evidence, information and knowledge to make his case. I want to highlight two of his arguments.

First, he gave us an indication of the bodies that support the increased use of face masks—the BMA, the World Health Organization, the Royal Society, the Lancet, and so on. Then—this is critical—as further evidence, he cited 80 research sources worldwide that found that wearing a face mask increased the success rate in the battle against Covid-19.

Exercise Cygnus

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts
Tuesday 9th June 2020

(3 years, 9 months ago)

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Lord Bethell Portrait Lord Bethell [V]
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The noble Baroness is right—if I understand her correctly—that the needs of PPE for a flu pandemic were quite different from those for Covid. It is also true that the planning did not anticipate a breakdown in global trade and a failure of the business-as-usual supply of PPE. No one could have imagined that flights would be grounded and factories shut and that the global supply chains for these key and vital products would have ground to a halt in the way that they did.

Lord Clark of Windermere Portrait Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab) [V]
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Is it true that Exercise Cygnus reported a shortage of ventilators, critical care beds and PPE in the National Health Service? If so, why were we singularly unprepared in all these spheres three and a half years later, at the beginning of Covid?

Lord Bethell Portrait Lord Bethell [V]
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My Lords, I admit that my briefing is not entirely specific, but it is my impression that operation Cygnus did not address the question of ventilators. One of the distinctive characteristics of Covid was the pneumonia response, which required an unanticipated and dramatic increase in our need for ventilators. That is one of the reasons why there was a global shortage of this key equipment. I have addressed this with the notes I have before me and will be happy to correct it if I have misunderstood.