WATCH: Labour calls for “dedicated minister for vaccines”

Jonathan Ashworth has called on the government to appointe a “dedicated minister for vaccines” to oversee what he described as the “herculean” task of deploying vaccines in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

In a Sky News interview this morning, he told viewers that creating the role could help avoid repeating the mistakes seen with the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) and the management of the NHS test and trace programme.

Ashworth said: “The roll out of the vaccine is a herculean task. It’s not vaccines that save lives, it’s vaccination. So we need a plan for the deployment now of millions of these vaccines…

“But given that we’ve got to roll out a vaccine with a scale and a magnitude that we’ve never seen before, and given that we’ve seen so many problems this year with the procurement of PPE and the £12bn test and trace… we’ve suggested to the government, why not have a dedicated minister for vaccines who can pull all the work together and can ensure we’ve got a plan?

“But we also crucially need resources for our family doctors, our GPs, for our district nurses, for our health visitors – all of whom will be leading the deployment of the vaccine on the ground.”

The Shadow Health Secretary added: “I hope in the spending review this week we can get that resource in place and ensure our NHS can roll out this vaccine smoothly and rapidly.”

Labour has called on the government to publish its plan for deploying the vaccine to make sure that “no community is left behind”. The party has demanded that the Conservative administration take several steps:

• “The creation of a dedicated ‘minister for the vaccine’;
• “A commitment to deliver the resources needed to meet the Easter target for vaccine roll out at the upcoming spending review;
• “A national public health communication strategy to ensure the public are fully informed about the vaccine; and
• “An equal access plan to put the infrastructure in place to ensure that everyone, no matter where they live, can access the vaccine.”

Rishi Sunak is due to deliver the spending review on Wednesday this week, with reports that the Chancellor will announce a public sector pay freeze from which NHS workers including doctors and nurses will be exempt.