Vaccine news “offers a glimmer of hope” (but only a glimmer)
Adam Price MS (Plaid, Carms. E & Dinefwr) describes yesterday’s news that a working Covid-19 vaccine had potentially been discovered as a “glimmer of hope”. He asked several technical questions about how a vaccine would be handled and distributed, but more importantly, asked who would be first in the queue to receive it if/when it’s distributed.
“….have you looked at alternative methods for prioritisation (for the vaccine), for example, the Oxford risk prediction tool, which stratifies the population according to a wider list of risk factors? In particular, will you be prioritising the roll-out of the vaccine in communities with demonstrably greater risk of infection, for areas of high socioeconomic deprivation, the black, Asian, minority ethnic communities and areas with higher levels of infection?”
– Adam Price MS
The First Minister said it was right to describe the vaccine news as a “glimmer” of hope as it shouldn’t be exaggerated.
There were practical issues to overcome as the vaccine needs to be stored below -75C. While the Welsh Blood Service has the facilities to store it at those temperatures, he understood that vaccine can only be taken out of storage four times before it becomes useless.
While the First Minister agreed in principle that vaccination priorities could be fine-tuned to include groups like BAME communities. For now, those in regular contact with infected or vulnerable people would be first in line.
“….until we’re certain….which groups this particular vaccine will be effective for, then we’re likely to start with healthcare staff, social care staff, to make sure that frontline workers who are regularly in contact with people with coronavirus are vaccinated, and then, if it is effective with older people, then it will be care home residents and people in later stages of life that will get the next priority.”
– First Minister, Mark Drakeford (Lab, Cardiff West)
Growing concerns over treatment backlogs
Leader of the Opposition, Paul Davies MS (Con, Preseli Pembs.), returned to the issues of treatment backlogs, particularly cancer, resulting from the pandemic. Would the Welsh Government consider creating Covid-free hospitals (hospitals dedicated exclusively to non-Covid treatment; at the moment hospitals are split into Covid and non-Covid zones)?
“….figures today have shown that around 49,000 patients in September had been waiting for more than a year for an NHS treatment in Wales, and that’s a tenfold increase for all treatments compared to September last year….And those same figures show that 18,000 people are waiting for some kind of treatment at Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board – a health board that is directly under your control.”
– Leader of the Opposition, Paul Davies MS
To the First Minister, coronavirus remains a threat to non-Covid related treatment as if case numbers exceed treatment capacity, there’ll be less time and room to treat those conditions.
Health boards were doing their best to ensure non-Covid care can continue. He stressed that it would be difficult to create Covid-free hospitals in Wales due to the small number of general hospitals in the country as a whole. Would Paul Davies himself want Withybush Hospital turned into a Covid-free hospital, requiring locals to move to receive treatment elsewhere?
