Sunday shows: Labour defends Blair-backed teacher priority vaccine plan

The Andrew Marr Show

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves welcomed the success of the UK’s vaccine roll-out and set out the details of Labour’s call for teachers to be prioritised. She also said the UK should “close the borders properly”, while recognising that poorer countries need access to Covid vaccines.

• On the UK vaccine roll-out: “We’re doing really well and the Labour opposition, we want to be constructive, we will say it when we’ve done things right.”
• On the UK not joining the EU vaccine programme: “We could have taken this approach inside or outside the EU… But in the end, this is not a zero sum game. We want the EU to be successful in rolling out the vaccine as well, and we want the poorest countries also to have access to this vaccine.”
• On giving away UK surplus vaccines: “Let’s see where we are in a few months. At the moment, it is not the case that even the most vulnerable have been vaccinated.”
• She added: “One of the big mistakes we’ve made during this pandemic is not to close the borders. The virus is going to come in, with different mutations around the world, unless we can get this vaccine out. We should close the borders properly, but also we do need to ensure people around the world have access to these vaccines.”
• Asked why Labour isn’t ‘following the science’ on vaccine prioritisation: “We’re asking the JCVI to look at the evidence and, as we manage to ramp up production and distribution, can we bring more people in? Last week, 2.2 million people got the vaccine – that’s 600,000 more than the week before. After we vaccinate the most vulnerable groups, one to four, I believe we can be more ambitious in our roll-out.”
• On whether Labour is rowing back from the call to vaccinate teachers during February half-term: “No, we think that would be a sensible thing to do, but we want the JCVI to look at this.”
• She said new ONS data show some frontline workers are more exposed to the virus and argued that the government has “no plan” to prioritise full school reopenings.
• She said: “Phase one should be completed by the middle of February. We’re not saying that teachers should be vaccinated in phase one. We’re saying in the second phase, can we bring teachers in?” [However, phase one is groups one to nine, not groups one to four as claimed here.]

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said she could confirm that the flow of Pfizer vaccines to the UK would not be disrupted, and she described the full return of schools on March 8th as a government priority.

Sophy Ridge on Sunday

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves agreed that the EU had not covered itself in glory this week, amid rows over supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine and its attempt to trigger Article 16. She defended Labour’s past criticisms of the government during Covid and the opposition’s new call for key workers to be prioritised for the vaccine.

• Asked whether the EU has ‘covered itself in glory’ this week: “No, they haven’t at all. The only good thing is the speed with which they reversed their wrong decision to look at invoking Article 16.”
• On whether Labour was wrong to call for the UK to join the EU’s vaccine programme: “The UK has done a fantastic job in procuring vaccines. I give credit to the government in doing that.”
• She added: “But in the end, we’re only going to succeed in defeating this virus if all countries have access to the vaccines because otherwise it will just mutate and come back here in a different form. Vaccine nationalism, whether it’s from the EU or anyone else, is totally counter-productive.”
• On whether the UK should give its vaccines to other countries: “At the moment, we haven’t even vaccinated the most vulnerable here at home, so this is not the right time to be looking to shift our vaccines here in Britain to other countries around the world. But I hope in time we’ll be able to do more, to share.”
• She added: “We need to help other parts of the world, whether in Europe or around the globe, also produce the vaccine to give it to their people.”
• On Labour’s past criticisms of Kate Bingham: “I think it’s right that as an opposition party we challenge the government where they get it wrong but also give praise of where it’s gone well.”
• She added: “There have been parts of the response to this virus that haven’t gone so well. It’s right to call that out. For example, handing over test and trace to private companies – that held us back.”
• On prioritising teachers for vaccines: “The JCVI should look at the prioritisation and bringing more people in… We owe a huge amount to our key workers.”

Former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair set out his thoughts on vaccine distribution and backed Labour’s call for teachers to be prioritised in the roll-out.

• On the UK signing AstraZeneca contracts more quickly than the EU: “Of course we could have done this inside Europe as well, there’s no obligation on us to join the European purchasing arrangements… But I’m well aware people will make that point and, in any event, I can’t believe there will be a situation in the future where any major developed country is going to subcontract its purchasing for vaccine.”
• On lessons for the future: “In the future you may get a strain of the virus that’s not covered by existing vaccines… What we should learn from the last few months is that this virus will mutate and we’ve therefore got to be much, much faster in how we deal with it.”
• On the EU triggering and untriggering Article 16: “It was a very foolish thing to do and fortunately they withdrew it very quickly.”
• He added: “This is going to be a very difficult few weeks because for countries in Europe, and Germany has made its own arrangements to get vaccine, countries are going to be scrambling for vaccine in the developed world… But this will eventually resolve itself because AstraZeneca is ramping up production all the time.”
• On giving away vaccines to other countries: “That’s only going to happen if we’ve got a surplus of vaccine. Now, we, like most developed countries, have ordered more vaccine than we will probably use but this is a decision that has got to be taken once we see our own programme rolling out.”
• On priorities: “Right now, we’ve got to be looking at how we make sure we detect these new strains far faster; how we’re developing the right backbone of the technology for new vaccines to deal with any other possible pathogens; how we’ve going to be able to shorten radically any of the trials for these new vaccines that we may need; and how we can then manufacture them at scale.”
• On Emmanuel Macron spreading vaccine disinformation: “I don’t want to get into a big row about it but it’s obviously incorrect, let’s say… There are about eight or nine vaccines, any of which personally I would be perfectly happy to take.”
• On travel restrictions: “One thing my Institute has been working on is for example to develop a common travel pass. I think this is going to be inevitable in the end.”
• On easing lockdown: “You would hope at some point in the next couple of months you are starting to be able to ease things. I do think there is a very strong case for vaccinating teachers in order to get the schools back.”
• On prioritising vaccines for teachers: “If it’s 500,000 people, it is two days of vaccination. I think that is a reasonable thing to do in these circumstances if it helps allow you to get the schools back sooner.”
• On whether Keir Starmer should be more constructive in his criticisms: “I think he has played it pretty well. I mean, it’s difficult for him, isn’t it, because it’s a national crisis, the government is the government and is going to be taking the decisions it takes. You can obviously be critical to a degree but I think he’s been pretty constructive all the way through and he’s tried to suggest things that are helpful.”

Liz Truss told Sky News that the government is “on track” to meet its target to vaccinate all care home residents and staff and that she expects “positive news” when Matt Hancock makes a statement on the aim.

On sharing vaccines with other countries later, she said: “It won’t benefit people in Britain if we become a vaccinated island and many other countries don’t have the vaccine, because the virus will continue to spread.”

Truss claimed the government has been “very tough on the borders” by banning travel from high-risk countries, but also added that “we do need to make sure that the economy can continue to run” while “protecting our borders”.