Covid-19 Update

Alistair Carmichael Excerpts
Monday 6th September 2021

(2 years, 6 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Nadhim Zahawi Portrait Nadhim Zahawi
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My right hon. Friend raises an incredibly important point that we look at every single day. In my ops meetings, we have a section dedicated to the workforce and specifically to the volunteers, so that we can make sure that they are put on notice of where and when we think we will need them. The only caveat that I would add is that we have built a very large infrastructure, but it has to flex depending on the advice from the JCVI, the MHRA and, of course, our chief medical officers.

Alistair Carmichael Portrait Mr Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)
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It will not be lost on many people that the various lines of defence that the Minister listed in his statement did not actually include his plans for vaccine passports, presumably because they do not offer us any defence at all. Taking a leaf from the book of the hon. Member for Hazel Grove (Mr Wragg), may I remind the Minister of what he said on Twitter on 12 January? He wrote:

“We have no plans to introduce vaccine passports…No one has been given or will be required to have a vaccine passport.”

When no less a person than Claire Fox said,

“Good to hear. Again. Can we hold you to this?”,

the Minister replied:

“Yes you can Claire.”

For Claire and the many others like her who want to hold the Minister to his words, may I ask when we will get the vote that he promised us?

Nadhim Zahawi Portrait Nadhim Zahawi
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I am grateful for the right hon. Gentleman’s question. It is an important question that I want to address head-on, because it is about statements on Twitter; I understand that I am “trending” on Twitter.

I was asked about this by Tom Swarbrick, who replayed to me my February interview. I said to him that the difference between then and now was first that the Delta variant is so much more infections than the previous variants—it takes only a very few particles for someone to be infected—and secondly that we have learnt from the experience of other countries which attempted to reopen sectors such as the nightclub sector and then had to close them rapidly because of super-spreader events. We do know that 60% of people who have had two jabs will not become infected with the Delta variant and therefore cannot infect someone else, although 40% will and can. This is a relative risk that we want to avoid: what we do not want to do is open the industry and then have to shut it down again because of those super-spreader events.

I hope that I have explained myself to the House. It is important that when politicians have new evidence—new data—they are able to change their minds.