The government is desperately trying to play down a letter from the NHS Chief Commercial Officer Emily Lawson advising them of a significant reduction in Covid-19 vaccine supply from the end of this month.
Any slowdown in vaccinations would serve a major blow to the government as it is their ace card to date in managing the pandemic. A total of 25,273,226 people have now had their first dose and the rate of vaccination is key to the government’s roadmap.
A supply constraint is highlighted in the letter and will last for a month from the week beginning March 29. Vaccination centres have also been advised to ensure no further appointments are uploaded to the National Booking System or Local Booking Systems from April 1 to 30.
This will mostly impact people under 50 through the prospect of having to wait until after April 30 for their first vaccine appointment.
The reason for the delays is being pinned on EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen.
The British foreign minister, Dominic Raab, said earlier today that the European commission’s threat to ban exports of Covid-19 vaccines cut across previous assurances, adding that the commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, needed to explain herself.
The British foreign minister told Reuters: “I think it takes some explaining because the world’s watching. We’ve, all of us, including with our European friends, been saying throughout the pandemic that you’d be wrong to curtail or interfere with lawfully-contracted supply.
“We all said it last year on PPE. We’ve been saying it this year, on vaccines and other things.
“Frankly, I’m surprised we’re having this conversation. It is normally what the UK and EU team up with to reject when other countries with less democratic regimes than our own engage in that kind of brinkmanship.”
During the Downing Street briefing this afternoon, the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg pressed for answers from Health Secretary Matt Hancock, on the letter and the EU. Hancock evades answering directly, what’s new, but does show much preparedness for the question. That readiness for questioning for us underlines how seriously the government is really taking this matter. The question can be seen and heard through the tweet video clip below, as can the ‘answer’.
“You haven’t mentioned this letter from the NHS” – @bbclaurak asks health secretary about warnings of a “significant reduction in weekly supply” of coronavirus vaccines from end of this month
Matt Hancock says “vaccine supply is always lumpy”https://t.co/k2PyTfcIZs pic.twitter.com/z1y9L0oK9n
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) March 17, 2021
The Health Secretary’s reference to the letter as “standard” was not allowed a reply from Kuenssberg, so she took to twitter to do so saying: “Source tells me this letter is not just a standard one like others than have been written in course of vaccine programme.”
The government need to be honest with people and come out with a statement that reflects the ‘real situation’ with the vaccination programme.
For hospitality it will be vital also to know what impact any slowdown in vaccinations could have on the roadmap.
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Hospitality & Catering News: Health Secretary evades Kuenssberg’s questioning on reduced vaccine supply. – 17 March 2021 – Health Secretary evades Kuenssberg’s questioning on reduced vaccine supply.
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