Covid-19 Update Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office

Covid-19 Update

Steve Baker Excerpts
Monday 12th October 2020

(4 years, 2 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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Don’t forget that this Government have increased universal credit by about £7 billion, perhaps £9 billion—£1,000 a year—and the uplift will remain in place for this financial year, as I told the House earlier.

Steve Baker Portrait Mr Steve Baker (Wycombe) (Con)
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By when does my right hon. Friend expect to have vaccinated the vulnerable population? What is his confidence in that date, and why does he have that confidence?

Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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I am grateful to my hon. Friend. Alas, I cannot give him a date by which I can promise confidently that we will have a vaccine. There are some very hopeful signs, not least from the Oxford-AstraZeneca trials that are being conducted, but, as he knows, SARS took place 18 years ago and we still do not have a vaccine for SARS. I do not wish to depress him, but we must be realistic about this. There is a good chance of a vaccine, but it cannot be taken for granted.