Covid-19 Update

Steve Brine Excerpts

Wednesday 30th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

The hon. Lady’s question is one for my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who has done more than almost any Finance Minister in the world to support people—whether in employment or self-employed—with some of the most generous schemes that have ever been put together. We appreciate that it is not possible to save every job, but we have done the most that we possibly can. I will make sure that someone from the Treasury gets back to the hon. Lady with a clear answer.

[Steve Brine (Winchester) (Con)]

The Secretary of State knows that the vaccine roll-out programme in Hampshire is in a very, very strong position. What he will not know is that, by the close of play today, just over 40,000 people in the county will have had their first dose, which is impressive work by Nigel Waterson, who is leading that—sorry, I meant Dr Nigel Watson; Nigel Waterson is a former colleague. The only thing holding us back, I am told, is supplies, so does today’s decision mean that the county’s endeavour can match its ambition? How many doses exactly will be in the country by the turn of the year?

[Matt Hancock]

I want to thank Nigel Watson and all his colleagues who have delivered this fantastic effort across Hampshire. It is true that the current rate-limiting factor on the roll-out of the vaccine is the supply of the approved vaccine. Not only do we need to have it manufactured and in the country, but each batch needs to be checked, because it has to be in pristine condition. The worst thing we could do is inject someone with something that we think is vaccine, but does not work because it has not been stored properly. That takes time.

We have 530,000 doses of the AstraZeneca jab ready to go, and they will be deployed from Monday. In addition, we have over 3 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine that are ready, because we needed to hold one dose back. Once we move to the 12-week window for dosage—for the Pfizer vaccine, too—which has been recommended today by the regulator and by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, we will be able to roll those out. That will happen through January, rather than immediately. The end result of all that is that we can significantly accelerate the roll-out of the vaccine programme.