Covid-19 Update

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Wednesday 30th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

I totally understand why people want the answer to that question, because of the hope that the vaccine gives us. What I can tell the hon. Lady is that the speed of the roll-out will be determined by the speed of manufacture. While we have 530,000 doses ready to go from Monday, we also need to make sure that we receive more approved doses. We are working closely with AstraZeneca on that, as we have with Pfizer. That is what will determine the speed of the roll-out. The NHS has a plan, and it is ready to go.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con) [V]]

I have nothing but praise for the NHS workers who have been rolling out the vaccination programme thus far, but many of my elderly and vulnerable constituents have had to queue for more than an hour after their appointed hour for vaccination. Will my right hon. Friend confirm what those many people who have already had the first dose of the vaccine should do about the second dose? Should they attend at their appointed hour, or should they wait for a new appointment in several weeks’ time?

[Matt Hancock]

Those with appointments before 4 January should attend their appointment, and those with appointments from 4 January onwards will have them rescheduled. I understand that that will, obviously, require effort, especially in primary care, and that some people are looking forward to their second dose. However, the overriding health priority and all the clinical advice is that, because we can get protection after the first dose of the vaccine, in order to save lives we need to move to the 12-week window rather than the three-week window that we had with the Pfizer jab.

On people queuing and the need to make sure that that system is as efficient as possible, I have not heard about that happening elsewhere in the country. If I may, I will arrange a meeting between my hon. Friend and the vaccine roll-out Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi), to make sure that we can get to the bottom of it and that things are running as smoothly as possible in Harrow.