Oral Answers to Questions

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Tuesday 12th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Robbie Moore (Keighley) (Con)]

What progress his Department has made on rolling out covid-19 vaccines.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

What progress his Department has made in rolling out covid-19 vaccinations.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Matt Hancock)]

I am proud that the NHS began vaccinating patients against covid-19 on 8 December, at the start of the biggest immunisation programme in British history. I am delighted to tell the House that more than 2.3 million people in the UK have now received the first dose of their covid-19 vaccine. Over the coming weeks and months, the rate of vaccination will increase as more doses become available and the vaccination programme continues to expand.

--- Later in debate ---

[Matt Hancock]

I will absolutely look at those two suggestions. I also remind my hon. Friend, all of his constituents and all those across the Bradford district that, yes, there are the large-scale vaccination centres, but there is also the primary care-based delivery, which is happening right across the country.

[Munira Wilson [V]]

It has been reported that Pinnacle, the IT system being used to organise the vaccinations, is already struggling to cope with heavy usage. My local GP vaccination hub, which I visited on Friday, reported that it was being slow, and there have also been worrying reports about very elderly people having to queue for a long time outdoors while staff try to get the IT system working. Will the Secretary of State please confirm what action the Department is taking to ensure that the systems work more efficiently, and will be able to cope as the number of vaccination sites grows?

[Matt Hancock]

Clearly, the IT underpinnings of this project are critical. The Pinnacle system is working well, but we are constantly monitoring it to make sure that it supports the roll-out of the vaccine.

Covid-19: Vaccinations

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Monday 11th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Nadhim Zahawi]

My hon. Friend’s constituents will be contacted, either by their primary care network or by letter from the national booking service. They do not have to go to the national vaccination centre if that is inconvenient; they will be able to get their vaccination through their primary care network or the hospital hubs. I am very happy to take those particular two cases offline, look into them and give him some more details.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

I would like to dig a bit deeper into the supply question. I had the privilege of visiting a GP surgery in my constituency on Friday, where I was told by the doctor in charge that they cannot book the next set of appointments because they do not know when they will get the next delivery of the vaccine. I have heard from other centres that they are not allowed to move on to the next cohort when they finish the under-80s, in order to ensure that there is equity across the country. The Minister has said that we cannot have 24/7 vaccinations because of supply. Is the supply issue the rate at which the product is being manufactured, the rate at which it is being packaged, the rate at which it is being batch tested, or the rate at which it is being distributed around the country?

[Nadhim Zahawi]

The hon. Lady asks an important question. In any manufacturing process—especially a new one—it is always lumpier at the beginning, and there are more challenges. There are a number of tests done by both the manufacturer and the regulator; the batch testing at the end of the process is done by the regulator, to make sure that the batches meet the very high standards that we have in the United Kingdom. That will begin to become much smoother and stabilise, and we have a clear line of sight through to the end of February, hence why we are confident that we can meet the target of offering a vaccine to the top four most vulnerable cohorts on the list of nine from the JCVI by the middle of February.

We thank the hon. Lady’s local GPs, but it is important for them to remember that the central team that is doing the distribution is running at about 98.5% accuracy at the moment, which means that 1.5% of deliveries are not as we would like them to be. We will get better at that. As Brigadier Prosser said, this is like standing up a supermarket chain in a month and then growing it by 20% every couple of weeks. It will get better. The focus of the central team is to try to give primary care networks —GPs like hers—as much time and notice as possible, so that they can plan ahead and get the four cohorts in for their jabs. It is always difficult at the outset, but it gets better by the day and will do in the weeks ahead.

Covid-19 Vaccination Roll-out

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Monday 11th January 2021 Westminster Hall

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir David.

I very much welcome this debate, and I am grateful to my many constituents for signing the petition—I believe Twickenham was about 13th on the list of signatories. Like many other Members, I have received many emails from school staff and early years staff urging me to participate in this debate and to press for the prioritisation of those staff.

One thing that strikes me is that a number of the staff—I very much agree with them—said that they accept that health and care workers, absolutely, and the most vulnerable, so those who are very old and at highest risk, should be front of the queue. Generally, I do not think that the discussion is around those top four priority groups. There is probably more of a discussion to be had on some of the lower groups. The JCVI has said that, after all its priority groups, it is a matter of policy as to whether other groups, such as teaching staff, are prioritised.

The Liberal Democrats have proposed that teaching staff should perhaps be in group 7, but that is up for discussion. Indeed, if we look at some of the data on the lowest priority group according to the JCVI, the 50 to 55-year-olds, they are at very little higher risk compared with the rest of the general population. I would contend that there is a policy discussion to be had on some of those lower groups that the JCVI put forward, and on whether teaching staff and early years staff should go in there.

I must declare an interest as the mother of a two-year-old and a six-year-old. I am utterly delighted that childcare settings are open: my two-year-old is a handful, and my husband could not home-school our six-year-old daughter if my son was at home, so I am very grateful to the staff in early years settings who put themselves at risk day to day.

I appreciate that vaccinating early years staff and teaching staff will not necessarily prevent the spread of disease, because we do not yet have the data to show that; it will merely give them protection, but that is important. We are all united, across the House, in that we want to see schools return as soon as possible. The most disadvantaged are being hurt, and that is not just the very poorest on free school meals. Over the Christmas holidays, I had a conversation with a mother of three who does not qualify for free school meals, but is just above that line—just about managing. She could not afford devices for her kids in the first lockdown, so she was having to borrow to be able to home-school them—it really is hurting the most vulnerable, because the devices for home schooling are not out there as widely as they should be. It is also having an impact on children’s and young people’s mental health, a subject that I am passionate about and that has already been raised today. Before the pandemic, one young person in 10 had a diagnosable mental health condition; that figure has already risen to one in eight.

I particularly want to shout out for special educational needs and disabilities. By definition, those settings have to remain open, because they have the most vulnerable children. I have had a number of representations from staff and governors in SEND schools in my constituency; one member of staff from Clarendon Primary Centre in Hampton pointed out that, like in early years and some of the younger primary settings, pupils with special educational needs and disabilities struggle to socially distance. The staff provide personal care, including changing, to a wide age range. Some pupils spit and bite; most pupils cannot tolerate the invasive nature of a lateral flow or PCR test. His school has over 60% attendance and his class has 80%—he says, “We are fully open.” More than 50% of pupils in that school are free school meal or pupil premium kids.

It is quite clear that in such settings additional protection for teachers and other school staff is very much warranted, so I urge the Minister to revisit some of the lower-level groups on the JCVI priority list. As I tried to allude to in the main Chamber earlier, there is a desire to have a 24/7 vaccination programme as and when supply allows. The workforce is there to deliver it, so why cannot we include teachers and early years staff?

Our children and young people are really suffering in this pandemic. We owe it to them—and to the people who are taking care of them and helping them to develop into young adults—to protect them as best we can.

Public Health

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Wednesday 6th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD) [V]]

So here we are again: another month, another late lockdown, and all the harm that lockdown brings with it—lost learning, lost livelihoods and loneliness. Yet once again, this drastic and painful action has tragically become our only option, given the alarming rate at which the virus is tearing through our country and the immense pressure on the NHS.

A clear exit strategy from lockdown, to which vaccines are central, is critical so my Liberal Democrat colleagues and I reiterate once again our request to Ministers to publish a clear plan as to how they will meet their initial target of vaccinating the most vulnerable, but also all adults beyond that. This plan needs to involve not just the NHS, but the military, the private sector, the voluntary sector, local government and community pharmacies, whether they are big chains or independents. We need a 24/7 vaccination programme brought to every high street in the country, so that those who are in hard-to-reach groups or those who find the hubs hard to reach can access these life-saving jabs. If the Prime Minister is serious when he says that every needle in every arm makes a difference, why is a physiotherapist in my constituency who has completed all the paperwork and training yet to be called upon? We cannot afford to lose a single day.

Alongside vaccination, we have to continue finding, testing, tracing and isolating every case, and, importantly, supporting every individual with the virus and their contacts. Although we will be better protected from serious illness through vaccination, we must stop transmission, not least given the emergence of ever more variants. That is why it is utterly astonishing that none of the announcements in recent days has mentioned test, trace, isolate. Have Ministers given up on this vital and basic public health tool? People need to be paid to stay at home for 10 days if they have been told to self-isolate, and that is on full pay—not sick pay and not £500 after lots of red tape. It is far cheaper than endless lockdowns. It must come with practical support too.

Finally, compliance and trust is built through transparent communication. What are we all working towards? In particular, what do the numbers need to look like before Ministers will reopen schools? We must not underestimate the impact on children’s learning and wellbeing, and the pressures and stresses that parents, who feel like they have been constantly forgotten about, are under. That is why a robust exit strategy is key, and it is about much more than just vaccination. We cannot keep blaming mutants and variants, we cannot keep blaming the public, and we cannot afford any more deadly delays and incompetence. Responsibility lies squarely at the Government’s door to deliver an efficient vaccination plan, to improve test, trace and isolate, and to communicate openly with the public.

Covid-19 Update

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Wednesday 30th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Yes, I strongly agree with my hon. Friend, who speaks very powerfully about the need for proper, authorised information about these vaccines, which save lives. We have been very careful to ensure that the independent regulator makes the decision on how these vaccines should be deployed, and indeed whether they should be deployed, and it is confident in their safety and their efficacy. It is that information, and all the information that is set out by the NHS, that people should look to if they have questions—if they want to know how and why the vaccine works, and who it should be used for. I pay tribute to all those who work in the hospitals of Gloucestershire. It is hard work at the moment in the NHS. Rates of coronavirus in Gloucestershire have really shot up over just the past two or three weeks, and unfortunately that is why we have had to take the action that we have on restrictions. I want to thank all of the NHS for doing all the work that it has been doing over Christmas and will have to do over the weeks ahead.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD) [V]]

I, too, welcome the fantastic news about the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine and congratulate all those involved.

I found it frankly shocking that the Secretary of State’s statement made barely any reference to the immense pressures our hospitals are facing on the ground and what the plan is to help them with this situation. Major incidents have been declared in Essex and London. Ambulances are queuing outside hospitals and intensive care unit patients are being transferred across the country. The Nightingale hospitals were meant to be the insurance policy, but we hear that only 28 covid patients are in the Nightingale hospitals across England. If now is not the time to use the Nightingales, when is? If there are insufficient staff, why on earth did the Secretary of State spend £220 million on building the Nightingales? What is the back-up plan?

Public Health

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Wednesday 30th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD) [V]]

May I, too, add my thanks to all our frontline NHS and care staff, and to all those who have been involved in bringing the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to approval today? The news is very welcome.

With all this talk of the cavalry arriving, the reality at our hospitals on the ground is stark. We see ambulances queuing and major incidents being declared in London and Essex, with reports that ICU patients are being transferred the length and breadth of the country. It did not have to be this way. The timing of this debate and the content of the statutory instruments that we have been asked to consider epitomise the Government’s handling of the pandemic to date: too little, too late, in the face of clear advice from scientists and health service leaders. The fact that, as a London MP, I was asked to consider the move to put my area into tier 3 on 16 December after just two weeks in tier 2, following a national lockdown, then the move into tier 4 on 20 December, together with the belated changes to Christmas restrictions, shows just how ineffective, ill-timed and ill-thought-through some of the interventions have been, with limited transparency on some of the criteria.

That dither and delay, with constant chopping and changing on the rules is proving a catastrophe for our health service, costing thousands of lives. Of course, the new variant of the virus has made matters much worse, and quickly, but all the signs were that something was afoot in Kent in the November national lockdown. Given the growing gravity of this national health emergency, new restrictions and the confirmation of the new variant, I simply do not understand why Parliament was not recalled before Christmas, as other hon. and right hon. Members have said. To bundle all these retrospective decisions up with consideration of a monumental change to this country’s relationship with the European Union on just one day of parliamentary time demonstrates the Government’s complete and utter contempt for Parliament.

Over the past nine months, my Liberal Democrat colleagues and I have raised in the House what experts have repeatedly called for to tackle the pandemic more effectively, including evidence-based interventions; a robust system not just to test but to trace and isolate every case; proper support for our health and care staff, including personal protective equipment, mental health support and now vaccination; and prioritisation of social care alongside the NHS. The Government have either not listened or have been too slow to act. They have let down the House and our country, and they have let down the very people on the frontline who are tackling the crisis head-on: NHS and care workers. We have seen a growing mental health crisis among staff, which is set to become worse with the prospect of another peak that is worse than the first. The Secretary of State promised to look at my proposals for additional mental health provision for staff in May, yet this week a psychiatrist said to me:

“Staff are anxious and we…have been treating colleagues who are at breaking point and attempted suicide. Some have been admitted to mental health units.

That happened before but it is worse now.

Add to that the message that staff are expendable and getting the vaccine to them is not happening and I think my mental health team will be seeing more staff.”

While Ministers are patting themselves on the back today, they should hang their heads in shame. We are beginning 2021 as the sick man of Europe, with our health care workforce on their knees. If the very welcome cavalry are to succeed, Ministers must urgently publish a detailed, cross-departmental roll-out plan for the vaccine. Modelling has shown that a vaccination rate of 2 million per week will need to be delivered, alongside ongoing restrictions, to significantly reduce deaths by next summer. With GP surgeries and hospitals already overstretched, the logistical challenge is immense.

There was an alternative to 2020. We did not have to be in the position where people were alone at Christmas and families sat down with an empty space at the table. As we start the new year, I beg the Government to show some humility. They should listen to the experts and ensure a swift and efficient roll-out of the vaccine, or they will not be forgiven. So we will support these regulations, given the parlous situation we face, but we need more transparency and publication of all the evidence and criteria. We need an improvement in contact tracing, giving local authorities control of that, and more financial and practical support for self-isolation, as well as financial support for the hardest-hit sectors.

Covid-19 Update

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Thursday 17th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

I agree with every word that my hon. Friend just said. I strongly agree that the best way to get out of tier 3 is by everybody coming together to comply with the restrictions—and not just to comply with them because they are the law but to take responsibility to ensure that we do not spread the virus, which each one of us can do unwittingly because of its asymptomatic nature. I thank my hon. Friend for her question and for the message that it sends: we can get areas out of tier 3 and we can get areas out of tier 2 and into tier 1, but we all have to work at it.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

I asked the Secretary of State, via a written question, what estimate his Department had made of the proportion of the population not registered with a GP, to which the answer was:

“No such estimate has been made.”

I found that concerning, given how important GPs are to the roll-out of the covid-19 vaccine, not least for vulnerable populations such as the homeless and those who move around a lot. Will the Secretary of State please explain what plans and provisions are being made to ensure that the vaccine is available to those who are not registered with GPs?

[Matt Hancock]

The hon. Lady raises an incredibly important point. It does not matter whether or not somebody is registered with anybody, they can still spread the disease. The reason for the answer that she was given is that we have to try to get the vaccination programme out to everybody, no matter their status. There are people who do not have any status in paperwork at all, and we need to make sure that we support the roll-out to them as well. We are working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which is best placed, along with local authorities, to make sure that the vaccination programme reaches anybody who fulfils the criteria set out by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

Covid-19 Update

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Monday 14th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

No. First, there is a record number of NHS staff, thanks to this Conservative Government. There is a record number of nurses—we have 14,000 more nurses. What I say to people in Devon, which is currently in tier 2, but with low rates, is do not take it for granted. Let us all work together and try to get Devon into tier 1. In Exeter, those rates have come down really sharply in the last few weeks. Let us keep working at it, and let us keep those public health messages going in relation to not only coronavirus, but the importance of eating fruit.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

We all know where to go now if we run out of fruit.

My children are desperate to see their grandparents this Christmas, as is the case for many families up and down the country, but in view of these alarming numbers, what we are seeing in the US following Thanksgiving and the constant chopping and changing of rules, which leads to lower compliance and more confusion, although I appreciate that the Secretary of State does not want to be the Grinch, should he be reconsidering the Christmas measures that are in place? Do we risk unnecessary additional deaths in the new year, just as we have light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccine?

[Matt Hancock]

I would recommend people to exercise caution over Christmas, especially with respect to seeing elderly relatives, who, of course, people are yearning to see. I understand that, but I think it is important that people not only abide by the rules, but take personal responsibility in case they have coronavirus and might be passing it on, but do not have any symptoms and do not know about it.

Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-out

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Tuesday 8th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Yes, I do, and I hope that we can get the vaccine out to residents of care homes as soon as is feasibly possible. They are in the top priority group clinically, and it is simply a question of how quickly we can operationalise getting the vaccine out to care homes. I hope that that can start before Christmas. I pay tribute to everybody working at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford this morning, administering vaccines already and helping to protect the lives of my right hon. Friend’s constituents.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

May I start by saying what a joyful moment it was this morning to see those first vaccinations and thank everybody who has been involved in making this happen? I very much welcome the Secretary of State’s optimism about our summer holidays next year. However, I gently point out that we have seen setbacks from some of the manufacturers in terms of when the doses of vaccine will be delivered. With both Pfizer and AstraZeneca, it will apparently be 3 million doses arriving by the end of the year, rather than the 30 million that were originally forecast. Does he still think it is feasible that the most vulnerable will be vaccinated by the spring, and how many of those of us who are healthy under-50-year-olds might be vaccinated by the school summer holidays?

[Matt Hancock]

I understand why the hon. Lady and many others want to know what the speed of the roll-out will be. Because we are reliant on the manufacturing process, which is itself a difficult challenge, we cannot put figures on when the roll-out will be. We hope that we will be able to lift the measures by the spring, and we hope that we will all have a much more normal summer next year, but I do not want to put too much more detail on it than that, and I cannot put more in terms of the numbers, because there are so many contingencies. What we can be sure of, and what we can work and plan for, is the NHS being able to deliver the roll-out at the speed at which the manufacturers can manufacture.

Coronavirus Vaccine

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

My right hon. Friend is gracious and kind in what he says, and I welcome the WHO’s comments this morning. It has supported the UK approach and rightly commended the MHRA, our independent regulator. It has followed all the same steps that any high-quality regulator would, should and will, but it has followed them rapidly and sometimes in parallel, instead of one after the other. That is how we have got to the position of being the first country in the world to have a vaccine that is clinically authorised; it is because the MHRA has done a brilliant job, working with Pfizer and BioNTech, to make sure that the same safety considerations are looked at but in a way that made the process as fast as is feasibly and safely possible. The WHO has backed that approach. Regulators around the world could take a look at the MHRA, and we should all congratulate it.

My right hon. Friend rightly asks about making sure we vaccinate those with learning disabilities and offer them vaccination at the right point in the prioritisation. I have discussed that important consideration directly with the JCVI, which takes into account the higher mortality of those with any given condition and has done so in the prioritisation that it set out this morning. Age is the single biggest determinant of mortality from coronavirus, which is why age is the predominant factor in the prioritisation, but it is not the only one. That matter has been considered by the JCVI and it is important that we accept and follow the JCVI advice as much as is practicable in the delivery and deployment of this vaccine.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

It is, indeed, a fantastic day. I add my thanks and congratulations to everybody who has been involved in getting us to this point, not just in the UK, but worldwide, because this is a great example of global scientific collaboration. May I also pick up on the point about batch testing, which the Secretary of State mentioned on the radio this morning and in his statement? Will he clarify that if we signed up to a mutual recognition agreement with the EU, we would not need to batch test the vaccine again once it arrives in the UK, which could slow down the process, not least because having enough qualified persons to do the batch release testing could be a real challenge? Is he working on a mutual recognition agreement?

[Matt Hancock]

We have that mutual recognition agreement in place now. The hon. Lady is right to point to the global scientific work—work between UK scientists and scientists based in the UK, German scientists at BioNTech, the American scientists and the Belgians, who are producing and manufacturing this vaccine. The approach has been about people coming together right around the world, and the UK has put more into the global search for a vaccine in cash terms than any other country; despite our medium size as a nation, we have been the most generous, and I am really proud of that.