Public Health

Simon Jupp Excerpts

Wednesday 30th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Simon Jupp (East Devon) (Con) [V]]

I hope that everyone in this House would agree that we all long for the day when we can throw the last mask in the bin and enjoy the freedoms we expect in life. I am sure that my constituents in East Devon will share my disappointment that we are now heading into tier 3, but throwing caution to the wind now could bring more than a hangover in the new year, as case numbers continue to rise across Devon and our NHS remains under strain. However, it is clear that we need a pathway and a timeframe to come out of these restrictions sooner rather than later. The hospitality industry now faces widespread closure as more of the country heads into tougher restrictions; it is time to look again at the financial support for our pubs, hotels and restaurants and their suppliers. They all did their duty to keep customers safe, so let us not put hard-working staff in danger of losing their jobs.

As 2020, thankfully, draws to a close we do have real hope for the future; the roll-out of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine was a major step forward in our fight against covid. I would like to thank Dr Barry Coakley, Dr Simon Kerr and everyone at the vaccination centre in Exmouth for their hard work to give 2,000 people the first dose of the vaccine in the run-up to Christmas. It is a truly remarkable achievement, and Exmouth is not the only place where people in East Devon can get vaccinated.

We all woke up to the very welcome news about the independent approval of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. The Government have ordered 100 million doses. That is enough to vaccinate 50 million people. The roll-out begins next week, and I would like to thank the Secretary of State and his team for all their hard work to make this possible.

Mr Deputy Speaker, we cannot let our guard down, but we can now look ahead to 2021 with renewed hope and optimism.