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Category: Coronavirus

  • Rachel Reeves – 2021 Comments on Covid Contracts

    Rachel Reeves – 2021 Comments on Covid Contracts

    The comments made by Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, on 22 April 2021.

    The scale of corruption risk to vast amounts of taxpayer money revealed in this report is shocking, as is the evidence of endemic cronyism flowing through the government’s contracting.

    Standards on public contracts have slipped so far under this Conservative government that this would be embarrassing if it wasn’t so serious.

    Labour have consistently asked for the government to get the basics right – calling on them to publish the names of businesses that won lucrative Covid contracts through the ‘VIP fast lane’, ramp up transparency and come clean to taxpayers about the £2 billion worth of contracts that have gone to Tory friends and donors.

    Instead they’ve let cronyism and sleaze run through the core of their procurement and contracting.

    A Labour government would introduce an Integrity and Ethics Commission to clean up cronyism and raise standards for good.

  • Matt Hancock – 2021 Comments on the Antivirals Taskforce

    Matt Hancock – 2021 Comments on the Antivirals Taskforce

    The comments made by Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 20 April 2021.

    The UK is leading the world in finding and rolling out effective treatments for COVID-19, having identified dexamethasone, which has saved over a million lives worldwide, and tocilizumab.

    In combination with our fantastic vaccination programme, medicines are a vital weapon to protect our loved ones from this terrible virus.

    Modelled on the success of the vaccines and therapeutics taskforces, which have played a crucial part in our response to the pandemic, we are now bringing together a new team that will supercharge the search for antiviral treatments and roll them out as soon as the autumn.

    I am committed to boosting the UK’s position as a life science superpower and this new taskforce will help us beat COVID-19 and build back better.

  • Boris Johnson – 2021 Comments on the Antivirals Taskforce

    Boris Johnson – 2021 Comments on the Antivirals Taskforce

    The comments made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 20 April 2021.

    The success of our vaccination programme has demonstrated what the UK can achieve when we bring together our brightest minds.

    Our new Antivirals Taskforce will seek to develop innovative treatments you can take at home to stop COVID-19 in its tracks. These could provide another vital defence against any future increase in infections and save more lives.

  • Boris Johnson – 2021 Statement at Covid-19 Press Conference

    Boris Johnson – 2021 Statement at Covid-19 Press Conference

    The statement made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 20 April 2021.

    Thank you very much for joining us. I’m joined today by Dr Nikki Kanani.

    There is no doubt at all that this country is continuing to make progress in the fight against Covid.

    We are proceeding with our roadmap and I want to thank everybody for continuing to follow the guidance and to thank parents and families for the incredible work you are doing to help test pupils through the Easter holidays and to encourage you to keep testing them twice a week as schools return. And above all I want to thank everybody involved in the outstanding vaccine roll-out, especially those of you coming forwards in huge numbers as you are.

    19 out of 20 of those who’ve had a first dose are coming forward for a second, meaning that almost 1 in 5 of all adults have now had a second dose.

    And on first jabs we’ve now vaccinated 33 million people, including 60 per cent of the 45-49 year olds.

    And we know that this vaccination programme is making a big difference.

    We know that it’s helping to reduce suffering and save lives

    potentially on a very big scale.

    But we don’t yet know the full extent of the protection that we are building up the exact strength of our defences –

    and as we look at what is happening in other countries with cases now at record numbers around the world, we cannot delude ourselves that Covid has gone away.

    I see nothing in the data now that makes me think we are going to have to deviate in any way from the roadmap cautious but irreversible that we have set out. but the majority of scientific opinion in this country is still firmly of the view that there will be another wave of covid at some stage this year and so we must – as far as possible – learn to live with this disease, as we live with other diseases.

    We will be bolstering our defences with booster jabs this Autumn, we’ll be continuing with testing, and today I want to announce what we hope will be a further line of medical defence.

    The United Kingdom was the first country in the world to pioneer dexamethasone, which has saved a million lives globally.

    And today we are creating a new Antivirals Task Force

    to search for the most promising new medicines and support their development through clinical trials

    with the aim of making them safely and rapidly available as early as the Autumn.

    This means, for example, that if you test positive there might be a tablet you could take at home to stop the virus in its tracks and significantly reduce the chance of infection turning into more severe disease. Or if you’re living with someone who has tested positive, there might be a pill you could take for a few days to stop you getting the disease yourself.

    And by focussing on these antivirals we hope to lengthen the UK’s lead in life sciences and to give ever greater confidence to the people of this country that we can continue on our path towards freedom.

    We have a taken a big step again this month, reopening significant parts of our country again, and for many people this last week has brought the first glimmerings of a return to normality having a pint, having a haircut, making that trip to the shops.

    Every day science is helping us to get back towards normality and I believe that antiviral treatments can play an important part.

    And if we keep going, follow the rules. Remember hands, face, space, fresh air –

    then we can keep each other safe and see through our roadmap to reclaim our lives in full.

  • Matt Hancock – 2021 Statement on Covid-19 Vaccination

    Matt Hancock – 2021 Statement on Covid-19 Vaccination

    The statement made by Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the House of Commons on 14 April 2021.

    I wish to inform the House of actions we are taking to improve uptake of vaccines across the adult social care sector.

    In February 2021, we published the UK covid-19 vaccines delivery plan setting out the significant programme of work under way to drive vaccine uptake, including actions to improve access and to address the concerns of those who may be hesitant to receive the vaccine.

    We have been working to make the vaccination accessible to people living and working in care homes. Vaccination teams have visited all older-age care homes in England and are running a minimum four-visit schedule for each. For those workers who may not have been present when the vaccination team visited the home, access via other vaccination services has been available. We also opened the national booking service for seven weeks so that frontline social care workers could book their own appointments, and care home workers can now arrange vaccination directly through their GP.

    We have worked hard to address concerns among the adult social care workforce by delivering an extensive communications programme, running targeted advertisements and issuing a stakeholder toolkit containing regularly updated Q and As, guidance and communications materials. Positive messaging using influencers, leaders and care home workers who have already been vaccinated has boosted confidence and tackled misinformation, as have briefings with different faith groups who have become ambassadors for getting a vaccine.

    We continue to do everything we can to increase vaccine uptake. We have targeted support at older adult care homes where vaccine uptake is low, such as in London. As of 4 April 2021, vaccine uptake among eligible workers in older adult care homes in London is 68%, compared to 82% in the south west. Local efforts, by employers, local authorities, public health teams and others, supplement this Government’s support.

    Despite efforts, vaccine uptake among care home workers is not consistently at the level that we know from SAGE advice is needed to minimise the risk of outbreak: a minimum vaccination rate of 80% of staff and of 90% of residents in each home—that level must be maintained. Only 53% of older adult homes in England are currently meeting this recommendation.

    It is imperative that together we now take every step necessary to reduce the risk of spreading the virus to those most at risk from covid-19 and those who care for them. We must protect people living in care homes, and we must protect the workforce who perform such a vital role.

    Vaccination is a safe, effective way of preventing the spread of covid-19. It is therefore right that the Government act now to ensure that those working and assisting in older adult care homes are vaccinated to protect everyone in these settings.

    From today, we are consulting on taking steps to require care providers to deploy only staff who have been vaccinated within older adult care homes. This measure would be intended to protect the people most at risk in our society—around 90% of those who died from covid-19 were people over 70.

    Making vaccination a condition of deployment in older adult care homes in this way would help to further protect older people living in care homes, who are among the most vulnerable to covid-19, and ultimately save lives. A five-week consultation launches today to help inform decision making around how the change could be implemented and whether respondents think it will be beneficial. This will include areas such as potential impact on staff, safety and who could be exempt. Staff, providers, stakeholders, residents and their families are being urged to take part to have their views heard with an outcome expected by this summer.

    I will provide an update to the House, following the completion of the consultation.

  • Nadhim Zahawi – 2021 Statement on Moderna

    Nadhim Zahawi – 2021 Statement on Moderna

    The statement made by Nadhim Zahawi, the Minister for Covid Vaccine Deployment, in the House of Commons on 13 April 2021.

    I am tabling this statement for the benefit of hon. and right hon. Members to bring to their attention the contingent liabilities relating to the contract signed between Her Majesty’s Government (HMG) and Moderna for its covid-19 vaccine.

    On 1 April 2021, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) granted a conditional market authorisation (CMA) for use of the covid-19 vaccine being manufactured by Moderna. With deployment of this vaccine beginning on 7 April 2021, I am now updating the House on the liabilities HMG has taken on in relation to this vaccine via this statement and the departmental minute available as an online attachment.

    The agreement to provide an indemnity as part of the contract between HMG and Moderna creates a contingent liability on the covid-19 vaccination programme. It has been and remains the Government’s strategy to manage covid-19 until an effective vaccine/s can be deployed at scale. Putting in place appropriate indemnities to be given to vaccine suppliers has helped to secure access to vaccines much sooner than may have been the case otherwise.

    Given the exceptional circumstances we are in, and the terms on which developers are willing to supply a covid-19 vaccine, we along with other nations have taken a broad approach to indemnification proportionate to the situation we are in.

    Even though the covid-19 vaccines have been developed at pace, at no point and at no stage of development has safety been bypassed. The independent MHRA’s approval for use of the Moderna vaccine clearly demonstrates that this vaccine has satisfied, in full, all the necessary requirements for safety, effectiveness, and quality. We are providing indemnities in the unexpected event of any adverse reactions that could not have been foreseen through the robust checks and procedures that have been put in place.

    Given the pace of vaccine development and our ambition to deploy the vaccine as soon as it has been authorised, it has not been possible to provide the normal 14 sitting days to consider this issue of contingent liabilities. Therefore, with immediate effect, all vaccination services are now able to extend their vaccination offer to those aged 45 to 49 years.

    I will update the House in a similar manner as and when other covid-19 vaccines are deployed.

    Attachments can be viewed online at: http://www. parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2021-04-13/HCWS910/.

  • Nadhim Zahawi – 2021 Statement on Covid-19 Vaccine Deployment

    Nadhim Zahawi – 2021 Statement on Covid-19 Vaccine Deployment

    The statement made by Nadhim Zahawi, the Minister for Covid Vaccine Deployment, in the House of Commons on 13 April 2021.

    I am tabling this statement for the benefit of hon. and right hon. Members to bring to their attention the contingent liabilities relating to the contracts signed between Her Majesty’s Government (HMG) and covid-19 vaccine suppliers for the phase 2 deployment of vaccines.

    Today, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has published its final advice about the next phase of the covid-19 vaccine deployment. In line with its interim advice, it has recommended an age-based strategy for prioritisation as the best way to further reduce mortality and hospitalisations.

    The JCVI has advised that rapid vaccine deployment is the most important means to maximise public health benefits against severe outcomes from covid-19. There is good evidence that the risks of hospitalisation and critical care admissions from covid-19 increase with age, and that in occupations where the risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 is potentially higher, persons of older age are also those at highest risk of severe outcomes from covid-19. It is for these reasons that the Committee has recommended that the offer of vaccination be age-based, starting with the oldest adults first, and proceeding in the following order to facilitate rapid deployment:

    All those aged 40 to 49 years

    All those aged 30 to 39 years

    All those aged 18 to 29 years

    Throughout the vaccination programme the independent regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA), has published data on the effects and side effects of the vaccine. It has independently assessed that all three vaccines in use in the UK are safe and effective. The European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organisation have reached the same conclusion. Having considered this data, which has been published, and in order to make the vaccine programme as safe as it possibly can be, the JCVI advises that it is preferable for adults aged under 30 years without underlying health conditions that put them at a higher risk of severe covid-19 disease, to be offered an alternative vaccine, if available.

    The JCVI has weighed the relative balance of benefits and risks, and advises that the benefits of prompt vaccination with the AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine far outweigh the risk of adverse events for individuals 30 years of age and over and those who have underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of severe covid-19 disease. The Government have accepted this advice in full, and the rollout will put this advice into operation.

    With the deployment of phase 2, I am now updating the House on the liabilities Her Majesty’s Government have taken on in relation to further vaccine supply via this statement and the departmental minute available as an online attachment.

    It has been and remains the Government’s strategy to manage covid-19 until an effective vaccine or vaccines can be deployed at scale. Putting in place appropriate indemnities for vaccine suppliers has helped to secure access to vaccines much sooner than may have been the case otherwise.

    Given the exceptional circumstances we are in, and the terms on which developers are willing to supply a covid-19 vaccine, we along with other nations have taken a broad approach to indemnification proportionate to the situation we are in.

    Even though the covid-19 vaccines have been developed at pace, at no point and at no stage of development has safety been bypassed. The independent MHRA’s approval for use of the currently deployed vaccines clearly demonstrates that these vaccines have satisfied, in full, all the necessary requirements for safety, effectiveness, and quality. We are providing indemnities in the unexpected event of any adverse reactions that could not have been foreseen through the robust checks and procedures that have been put in place.

    I will update the House in a similar manner as and when other covid-19 vaccines are deployed.

    Attachments can be viewed online at: http://www. parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2021-04-13/HCWS911/

  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2021 Letter to Priti Patel on South African Covid-19 Variant

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2021 Letter to Priti Patel on South African Covid-19 Variant

    The letter written by Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Shadow Home Secretary, and sent to Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, on 13 April 2021.

    Dear Priti,

    I write in relation to the recent news of the identification of an outbreak of the South African variant of Covid in Lambeth and Wandsworth, London, with the confirmation of 44 cases and a further 30 probable cases.

    This is a deeply concerning development: we know how dangerous emerging strains of the virus are and it is worrying that vaccines could be less effective against the South African strain and other variants of concern. The situation risks undermining the enormous sacrifices of the British people and the progress being made by the vaccine.

    It has been clear for many months that that there have been significant outbreaks of variants of concern, across Europe and further afield. For instance, we know that in large numbers of countries not included in the quarantine ‘red list’ there have been significant cases of variants of concern, including France, the USA and Greece.

    That is why Labour has consistently called for a comprehensive hotel quarantine system, to do everything possible to stop variants reaching the UK. However, the UK Government has refused to act on these warnings and the prospects of further outbreaks remain incredibly concerning. Sadly the outbreak in South London is an example of what can occur when action is not taken.

    Please can you answer the following questions:

    Can it be identified via contact tracing that the outbreak was caused by an individual/individuals travelling back into this country?
    What conversations has your Department had with the Global Travel Taskforce?
    How many individuals are currently going into hotel quarantine?
    How many travellers are currently entering the country each day?
    We are entering a critical juncture in our fight against the pandemic. As key elements of society and the economy reopen there are risks of any variants that make their way into the UK spreading more quickly. It is simply not good enough for the Prime Minister to say, blithely, that new waves of the virus will “wash up on our shores”.

    The British people will-rightly-be furious that their sacrifices and the progress of the vaccine is being put at risk by the Government’s reckless refusal secure our borders.

    As a result, I again call on you to act on the serious warning that this outbreak in south London represents and implement a comprehensive hotel quarantine system without delay.

    I look forward to your urgent response.

    Yours sincerely,

    Rt Hon Nick Thomas-Symonds MP

    Shadow Secretary of State for the Home Department

  • Boris Johnson – 2021 Comments on Vaccinations

    Boris Johnson – 2021 Comments on Vaccinations

    The comments made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 12 April 2021.

    We have now passed another hugely significant milestone in our vaccine programme by offering jabs to everyone in the nine highest risk groups.

    That means more than 32 million people have been given the precious protection vaccines provide against Covid-19.

    I want to thank everyone involved in the vaccine rollout which has already saved many thousands of lives.

    We will now move forward with completing essential second doses and making progress towards our target of offering all adults a vaccine by the end of July.

  • Matt Hancock – 2021 Rapid Testing at Home

    Matt Hancock – 2021 Rapid Testing at Home

    The comments made by Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 5 April 2021.

    Around 1 in 3 people who have COVID-19 show no symptoms, and as we reopen society and resume parts of life we have all dearly missed, regular rapid testing is going to be fundamental in helping us quickly spot positive cases and squash any outbreaks.

    The vaccine programme has been a shot in the arm for the whole country, but reclaiming our lost freedoms and getting back to normal hinges on us all getting tested regularly.

    The British public have shown over the last year that they quickly adapt and always do what it is right in the interest of public health, and I know they will do their bit by getting tested regularly in the months ahead.