(Title Image: Sky News)
It’s no surprise that news today that the first Covid-19 vaccine – the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine developed in Germany – has been approved by UK regulators for roll-out dominated this afternoon’s health questions.
Rhun ap Iorwerth MS (Plaid, Ynys Môn) was encouraged by the announcement, but it was now a question of distribution. Vaccines are not yet due to be given in care homes for practical reasons surrounding storage of the vaccine itself, while it’s suggested the Pfizer vaccine may not be appropriate in rural areas for the same reason.
Therefore, would access to the vaccine be properly equitable and does this undermine confidence in the vaccine’s distribution?
Health Minister, Vaughan Gething (Lab, Cardiff S. & Penarth), disagreed that it would. The Pfizer vaccine needs to be stored at -70C and there are a limited number of appropriate storage facilities. With more than 1,000 care homes in Wales, it wasn’t realistic to transfer vaccine doses in anything other than small quantities to prevent them thawing.
That said, the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine doesn’t have the same complicated storage problems and could make a bigger difference to house-bound people.
He reminded people that the NHS will issue invitations to a vaccination centre so they shouldn’t ask GPs or pharmacists. He also confirmed that Wales will get a population-based share of any batches for the UK (around a 5% share).
Shadow Health Minister, Andrew RT Davies MS (Con, South Wales Central) said it was a good news day after many dark days. He was, however, concerned that the press is already describing a card which will be issued to people who receive the vaccine as an “ID card”; did this card have any sort of legal status?
Additionally, he accepted the logic behind prioritising certain groups, but given the relatively small number of doses Wales will receive in the first batch (40,000, with two doses protecting 20,000 people), what was the train of thought behind allocating those first doses?
The Minister was clear that the information card was just that – an information card which will remind people when to return for a booster and listing what vaccine they received. It’s not an ID card.
He expected “several million” doses will be available to the UK during December and ever part of Wales will receive some of our share of the first batch. There were no concerns about the potential impact of Brexit (the Pfizer vaccine is manufactured in Belgium) as doses will be flown in if there are any problems at ports from the 1st January.
The Minister also warned the public not to see the vaccine news as an excuse to break restrictions.
