Covid-19 Update

Tony Lloyd Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

The performance of people on Teesside in getting the jab rolled out so fast has been absolutely magnificent—particularly, but not only, in Stockton-on-Tees, and I am not just saying that because it was my hon. Friend who asked me that question. It has been a really impressive performance and I am very happy to look into when we might be able to open a Teesside mass vaccination centre, but what I can say is that across Teesside the roll-out is going well and I am grateful to everybody who is coming forward so enthusiastically to get the jab.

[Tony Lloyd (Rochdale) (Lab) [V]]

May I join the Secretary of State in congratulating those in my constituency who have worked so hard on rolling out the vaccine? At the moment, in Rochdale, as in other areas, people are given roughly a week’s notice of the quantity and the type of vaccine that they will receive. As a way of working, that is fine for the first round of vaccinations. When we come to the second round, though, can flexibility be built in so that those responsible for delivering the vaccine know which vaccine and how many vaccinations they will get, so that they can ensure that those second vaccines are the ones that are needed?

[Matt Hancock]

I absolutely understand the point that the hon. Gentleman makes and I join him in what he says. I understand why people who are delivering the vaccine on the ground want to know those forecasts. The challenge is that the supply schedule is lumpy. We do not want to give certainty inaccurately: we do not want to imply that there is certainty where there is no certainty. There is certainty, though, in the fact that we have a high degree of confidence that the second doses will be available and, of course, will be distributed according to need, with the right vaccine for the right second dose going to the right place—we have a full record of that. The second dosing starts in earnest in a couple of months’ time—obviously, 12 weeks on from 4 January, when we shifted the dosing on to a 12-week schedule. We have the logistics under way to ensure that people get access to the right dose to match the first dose that they had. I am very happy to talk to him further if he has any more questions about the logistics of getting this sorted.