Commons Sense

As of writing today the UK has just passed three million vaccination doses! This is an incredible milestone and is cause for optimism amongst the population.

Since November when the first viable vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca were revealed, the vaccination programme has been viewed as our means of escape from this awful crisis.

The Prime Minister has set a clear target of vaccinating the four most vulnerable groups by the middle of February. This includes care home residents and their carers; people aged over 80 and frontline healthcare workers; people aged 75 and over; and people aged 70 and over as well as the extremely clinically vulnerable.

This accounts for roughly 14 million doses and should account for around 80 per cent of all deaths thus helping to drastically reduce deaths and providing hospitals with much-needed relief from pressure.

This entire lockdown strategy has had the main purpose of preventing health services from being overwhelmed and the vaccines should provide a way of achieving this without costly lockdowns.

That is why from next month, should the vaccination rollout meet its ambitious target, we can begin to look at and discuss our means for easing lockdown restrictions. Whether this will be fast or gradual will be a matter for MPs across the House to debate and discuss. But rest assured better days lie ahead.

None of this would have been possible without the excellent vaccine strategy which has been prepared and mapped out for months by the Government, and as a result we are well ahead of our European neighbours.

Additionally, the incredible work of the NHS and our armed forces for rolling out the vaccine at speed.

Until we reach the target of 14 million doses, I must continue to urge everyone to please follow the rules.

Stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives.

‘Rest assured better days lie ahead’