Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-out Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Stephen Metcalfe
Main Page: Stephen Metcalfe (Conservative - South Basildon and East Thurrock)Department Debates - View all Stephen Metcalfe's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-out
Stephen Metcalfe Excerpts(4 years ago)
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Matt Hancock
We absolutely will consider that factor when we come to the groups after the clinical prioritised groups. I join the hon. Lady in thanking Jack and all those who have put themselves forward today to be vaccinated, including sometimes in the public eye, as part of this programme to help build confidence in vaccination overall and, of course, to help protect themselves and their loved ones.
Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Con) [V]
I congratulate my right hon. Friend and his whole team on their Herculean effort to get us to the point where, today, Basildon University Hospital has started delivering the vaccine. Now, as we scale up the roll-out programme, will he join me in reassuring people that, despite the speed of development, not a single stage was missed and that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has done its usual due diligence in approving this vaccine?
Matt Hancock
That is right. The MHRA has gone through the same safety processes as normal, but it has done them in parallel at the same time, rather than in a series, one after another. It is that sort of smart and thoughtful approach, alongside the work of the Vaccine Taskforce in buying the vaccine in the first place, that has allowed us to get to this point of having confidence in the safety and efficacy of this vaccine before anybody else in the world. Everybody in Basildon who gets the call can have confidence that they should come forward, get the jab, protect themselves, protect those around them and, therefore, help us all get through this terrible thing.