Early evening summary
- Boris Johnson has said the UK’s vaccine supply shortage will not delay the easing of lockdown measures, telling a news conference “the road to freedom continues unchecked”. Describing the impact of the shortfall, he said “we will receive slightly fewer vaccines in April than in March but that is still more than we received in February and the supply we do have will still enable us to hit the targets we have set”. The dates in the roadmap for England would still apply, he said. He declared:
By April 15 we will be able to offer a first dose to all of you who are over 50 as well as those who are under 50 who are clinically vulnerable.
We will have the second doses people need within the 12 week window, which means around 12 million people in April and will still offer a first dose to every adult by the end of July.
So there is no change to the next steps of the roadmap.
We have now vaccinated over 25 million people across our entire United Kingdom, more than the entire population of many countries.
Our progress along the road to freedom continues unchecked - we remain on track to reclaim the things we love, to see our families and friends again, to return to our local pubs, our gyms and sports facilities and of course our shops.
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The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has said there is no evidence that the AstraZeneca vaccine causes blood clots and that people should keep using it. But it has also issued new guidance for anyone who has a headache lasting more than four days after getting a jab, in the light of the discovery that five of the 11 million who have had the jab have developed a very rare type of blood clot on the brain. (See 3.12pm.)
- Johnson has refused to hold the Indian government responsible for the delay in the export of a vaccine consignment ordered by the UK - despite the supplier blaming the Indian authorities. (See 5.46pm.) Asked about this at the press conference, Johnson said:
The Indian government hasn’t stopped any export. There is a delay as I have described, as there are very frequently in vaccine rollout programmes.
When asked if the Indian government was to blame for the delay, Johnson replied:
No, there is a delay as there often is, caused for various technical reasons. We hope, as I have said, to work very closely with the Serum Institute, and indeed with partners around the world, including on the European continent.
Johnson’s emollience towards India is in marked contrast to the tone taken by some of his colleagues when discussing the EU’s stance on restricting vaccine exports to the UK. The EU has only floated the idea (unlike India, which seems to have implemented it), but yesterday in response Dominic Raab implied Brussels was acting like an authoritarian regime.
- Johnson has defended a revived Home Office proposal to send asylum seekers to an offshore centre while their applications are being processed. It was a humanitarian move, he claimed. He told the press conference:
The objective here is to save life and avert human misery. Because people are crossing the Channel who are being fooled, who are being conned, by gangsters, into paying huge sums of money, risking their lives.
People have died trying to make this crossing and it is a deeply repugnant traffic that we need to stop, and that’s why the Home Secretary has set out the tough series of proposals that you have seen.
The objective is a humanitarian one and a humane one, which is to stop the abuse of these people by a bunch of traffickers and gangsters.
Johnson also restated his long-held view that he favoured some sort of amnesty for people who have been in the UK illegally for a long time, although he played down the significance of this, saying this was “pretty much what already happens under under the existing rules”.
That’s all from me for today. But our coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.
Another reason for Boris Johnson’s coyness when it comes to criticising India (see 5.46pm) may be that he is planning a major visit there at the end of April. There are no plans in the diary for any equivalent visits to Belgium, or any other countries in the EU.
Boris Johnson ends by refusing to comment when asked if he thinks Nicola Sturgeon should resign if she is found to have broken the ministerial code.
And that’s it. That was one of the quickest No 10 press conferences we’ve had, and also one of the hollowest in terms of news. What was said about the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine was important, but largely a replay of what was said earlier at a briefing and in a press statement.
What was perhaps most interesting was Johnson’s refusal to say the Indian government was to blame for the hold-up in supply of AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India (see 5.22pm) - even though the SII said the Indian government was responsible (see 12.08pm). Here is the Guardian’s latest story on India’s position, by my colleagues Michael Safi and Amrit Dhillon. They report:
With caseloads rising, and demand for vaccinations growing at home, the Indian government has asked the Serum Institute to keep more supply at home, and send less to the UK for now, a source authorised to speak for the manufacturer told the Guardian.
Government ministers (like Dominic Raab yesterday, or Matt Hancock today) have been happy to criticise the EU for “vaccine nationalism”, or threatening to block the export of vaccine that could be used at home. But they seem much more willing to overlook it if India is involved. The cases are not directly comparable, of course, but this may have something to do with the government not wanting to jeopardise its post-Brexit “tilt towards Asia” only two days after this was announced as the UK’s new foreign policy.
Updated
Q: Has the decision by some countries to suspend AstraZeneca vaccine use affected take-up here?
Whitty says there is some anecdotal evidence to the effect. But he says he thinks people will be reassured by what the regulators have said.
Q: Should the first anniversary of lockdown be a national day of commemoration?
Johnson says he will mark the anniversary, and thought is still being given to a permanent memorial.
Whitty says we are not yet at the point where we can see the impact of schools reopening on transmission.
Asked about the plan to process asylum applications offshore, Johnson confirms that he still favours an effective amnesty for people who have been in the UK a long time illegally.
But he claims this is effectively what happens anyway.
Commenting on the plan leaked today (see 11.09am), he says it is a humane plan. It is intended to stop the misery caused by human trafficking across the Channel.
Updated
Johnson claims Indian government not responsible for delay in supply to UK
Q: If GPs have spare vaccine, can they administer that to the under-50s?
Whitty says the NHS is prioritising the over-50s. And it is focused on ensuring that it does not miss people in this group out, as it races down the ages.
He says vaccinating 20 people in the highest risk group would prevent one death. In the lower groups, you need to vaccinate 1,000 people to prevent one death.
That is why they want to ensure they don’t miss anyone in the high-risk groups.
Q: What role did the Indian government play in blocking the export of doses to the UK? Isn’t this the sort of vaccine nationalism you call out when the EU does it?
Johnson praises the Serum Institute of India (SII). And he says the Indian government is not blocking the supply of vaccine.
Q: Have they delayed it?
No, says Johnson.
He says there is a delay for practical reasons.
This contradicts what the SII told the Telegraph earlier. See 12.08pm.
Updated
Q: Doesn’t the vaccine supply test mean we will fail one of the tests for the roadmap for easing lockdown – the successful rollout of the vaccine?
No, says Johnson. He says the government can still meet its targets.
Updated
Whitty says vaccination is very important for the under-50s as well as the over-50s.
The under-50s can get seriously ill, he says.
And the more people vaccinated, the less the risk of the virus spreading.
Updated
Q: Is there a danger that unfounded concerns about the AstraZeneca vaccine could put people off?
Johnson says the best testimony he can offer about the safety of the vaccines comes from Raine and Whitty.
Whitty says there is a clear consensus among the experts that the vaccines are very safe.
Updated
Q: How will the EU threat to block the supply of vaccines affect the public?
Johnson says people should not worry and all second doses will be delivered.
These vaccines are a multinational effort, he says. The UK will continue to view it in that spirit.
Updated
Whitty says all medicine is about weighing up the risks versus the benefits. Even aspirin has side-effects, he says.
He says the vaccine is giving good protection against a disease that is still common, and very dangerous. One person in 270 is infected, he says.
The risk/benefit is strongly in favour of using the vaccine, he says.
Raine is speaking now.
In line with the MHRA statement earlier (see 3.12pm), she says the evidence has been reviewed, and there is no evidence that the AstraZeneca vaccine is causing clots.
She says the rare brain clots are still being investigated. But there is no evidence that the AstraZeneca vaccine is responsible.
She says if people have a headache lasting for more than four days after their vaccine, they should seek medical advice.
Updated
Johnson says he will talk about vaccine supply and safety. The vaccine is the route to safety, he says.
He quotes what the MHRA and the EMA have said about the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine. And he quotes the Public Health England research about vaccine efficacy published yesterday.
He says the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and the Pfizer vaccine is safe. But what isn’t safe is getting the virus, he says.
He says he is getting his first dose tomorrow; it will be an AstraZeneca jab.
He says the supplies to the UK in April won’t be as high as this month.
But the government always said supply would not be smooth. He says the hold-up has been caused by safety checks. And the government is still on target to meet its deadlines for vaccinations, he says.
Boris Johnson's press conference
Boris Johnson is about to hold his press conference.
He will be appearing with Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, and Dr June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
The government should think “long and hard” before it tries to “curtail” the powers of the courts, a review of the legal challenge process has warned, PA Media reports. PA says:
An independent panel led by Lord Edward Faulks QC said any changes should “only be made after the most careful consideration” because of the important role they play in “constitutional arrangements” and in “maintaining the rule of law”.
The findings come as Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, announced plans to reform some judicial review procedures in a bid to prevent judges from being drawn into politics.
A Ministry of Justice announcement today said the independent review of administrative law found “courts were increasingly considering the merits of government decisions themselves, instead of how those decisions were made – moving beyond the remit of judicial review”.
Updated
Daily second dose vaccinations in UK pass 100,000 for first time
The UK government has updated its coronavirus dashboard, and it shows that 119,609 people in the UK received their second dose of a vaccine yesterday. It is the first time that figure has passed 100,000. And 462,246 people received their first dose of a vaccine.
There have also been 95 further deaths and 6,303 new cases. Week on week, cases are close to plateauing, but deaths continue to fall by about a third week on week.
The European Medicines Agency has declared that the AstraZeneca vaccine is “safe and effective” and that the benefits of using it outweigh any risks. Its briefing is taking place now. My colleague Mattha Busby is covering it on our global live blog.
The Commons science committee has confirmed that Dominic Cummings, the PM’s former chief adviser, has agreed to give evidence about the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis at a hearing on Wednesday 26 May. It will be a joint hearing with the Commons health committee; the two committees are holding a joint ‘Coronavirus: lessons learnt’ inquiry.
The date was announced on a new Twitter account understood to have been launched by Cummings.
Don’t understand why HoC been so slow to try to understand what & why things went so catastrophically wrong but agreed today I’ll give evidence 26/5. I assume MPs want to hear from all those in room for key decisions. Learning from disaster needs extreme transparency
— Dominic Cummings (@Dominic2306) March 18, 2021
The hearing could be highly damaging to Boris Johnson. As Cummings’s comments about the Department of Health yesterday showed, he has no qualms about denouncing his former government colleagues in the strongest terms. Publicly he has never criticised Johnson, his close ally from the Vote Leave campaign, but there have been multiple reports claiming that they fell out last year after Johnson resisted Cummings’ advice to lock down harder and earlier.
At yesterday’s committee hearing, for someone notoriously contemptuous of many MPs, Cummings sounded surprisingly keen to talk to them about how No 10 handled the pandemic.
Updated
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, has accused a HuffPost UK journalist of being “either a knave or a fool” over a story about the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, the second time in recent weeks that ministers have targeted individual reporters with claims of distorted coverage, my colleague Peter Walker reports.
Public Health England has published its weekly Covid surveillance report.
We've just published our weekly #COVID19 surveillance report.
— Public Health England (@PHE_uk) March 18, 2021
Read it here: https://t.co/8dYt9zEVk9
Here are some of the key charts.
This week's #COVID19 surveillance report shows that case rates continue to be highest in those aged 30-39 years old and are lowest in those aged 70-79.
— Public Health England (@PHE_uk) March 18, 2021
See the data for yourself here: https://t.co/8dYt9zEVk9 pic.twitter.com/2mQATlqRQZ
Our weekly #COVID19 surveillance report also shows that case rates have fallen in most regions and continue to be highest in Yorkshire and the Humber.
— Public Health England (@PHE_uk) March 18, 2021
See the report here: https://t.co/8dYt9zEVk9 pic.twitter.com/ecy0p5eOLJ
Hospital admissions for #COVID19 remain highest in those aged 85 and over.
— Public Health England (@PHE_uk) March 18, 2021
See our weekly COVID-19 surveillance report here: https://t.co/8dYt9zEVk9 pic.twitter.com/YhosJfTfZP
Hospital admission rates for #COVID19 have fallen in all regions and are now highest in Yorkshire and the Humber.
— Public Health England (@PHE_uk) March 18, 2021
See our weekly surveillance report here: https://t.co/8dYt9zEVk9 pic.twitter.com/y6vJHE0o0D
No classroom is safe – Boris Johnson has being doing yet another school visit today, this time to Colham Manor primary school in his Uxbridge constituency.
Updated
At a briefing Dr Phil Bryan, vaccines safety lead at the the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said the five cases of the very rare blood clot on the brain, cerebral sinus vein thrombosis (CSVT), found in the UK among the 11 million people who have had the AstraZeneca vaccine (see 3.12pm) were similar to some of those that have recently been reported in Europe. He said:
What we don’t know is whether these cases have been caused by the vaccine. We are working closely with our experts, our haematologists, to try to gather more information to determine this, because these are illnesses that do, very rarely, also happen naturally.
However, Bryan said it is difficult to put a figure on the background rate as the condition is so rare.
Updated
Benefits of AstraZeneca vaccine 'far outweigh' any possible risk, says government drug safety adviser
Prof Sir Munir Pirmohamed, chair of the Commission on Human Medicines, which advises government on the safety of medicines, has said the benefits of using the AstraZeneca vaccine “far outweigh” the risk. In a statement on its safety he said:
The independent Covid-19 expert working group of the Commission on Human Medicines, together with leading haematologists, conducted a rigorous analysis of all available evidence regarding reports of blood clots (thromboembolic events) and Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca.
Our review has found that the available evidence does not suggest that blood clots are caused by Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca.
We have been closely reviewing all reports of blood clots in the vein (venous thromboembolism, or VTE) following vaccination. There is no evidence either that VTE is occurring more often in people who have received the vaccine than in people who have not, for either vaccine.
However, we will continue to closely monitor the reports where cerebral sinus venous thrombosis has occurred in conjunction with lowered platelets to understand whether there is any potential association. This type of blood clot can rarely occur naturally in unvaccinated people as well as in people with Covid-19 disease. In the UK, 5 possible cases of this have been reported to us so far, after 11m doses of Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca.
Further work with expert haematologists is under way to further understand the nature of these cases and whether there is a causal association with any of the vaccines. Given the extremely rare rate of occurrence of these events, the benefits of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, with the latest data suggesting an 80% reduction in hospitalisation and death from Covid disease, far outweigh any possible risks of the vaccine in the risk groups currently targeted in the UK.
Updated
Regulator says no evidence showing AstraZeneca jab causes clots - although new precautionary advice issued
Here is the news release issued today by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency about the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine, and the five cases of a rare blood clot on the brain that have occurred among the 11 million people in the UK who have taken it.
And here are the key points.
- The MHRA has said there is no evidence that the AstraZenca vaccine is causing blood clots. This is from its chief executive, Dr June Raine. She said:
Our thorough and careful review, alongside the critical assessment of leading, independent scientists, shows that there is no evidence that that blood clots in veins is occurring more than would be expected in the absence of vaccination, for either vaccine.
- People should continue to take the AstraZeneca vaccine when offered it, the MHRA says, because the benefits outweigh any risks. In her statement Raine said:
We have received a very small number of reports of an extremely rare form of blood clot in the cerebral veins (sinus vein thrombosis, or CSVT) occurring together with lowered platelets soon after vaccination. This type of blood clot can occur naturally in people who have not been vaccinated, as well as in those suffering from Covid-19.
Given the extremely rare rate of occurrence of these CSVT events among the 11 million people vaccinated, and as a link to the vaccine is unproven, the benefits of the vaccine in preventing Covid-19, with its associated risk of hospitalisation and death, continue to outweigh the risks of potential side-effects.
You should therefore continue to get your jab when it is your turn.
- Anyone who has a headache lasting more than four days after having the vaccine should seek medical help, the MHRA says. In her statement Raine said:
While we continue to investigate these cases, as a precautionary measure we would advise anyone with a headache that lasts for more than four days after vaccination, or bruising beyond the site of vaccination after a few days, to seek medical attention.
However, please remember that mild flu-like symptoms remain one of the most common side-effects of any Covid-19 vaccine, including headache, chills and fever. These generally appear within a few hours and resolve within a day or two, but not everyone gets them.
Raine will be appearing at the No 10 press conference later alongside the prime minister.
Updated
Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservatives’ Holyrood leader, once again used FMQs to challenge Nicola Sturgeon on the latest developments in the Salmond inquiry.
Yesterday Sturgeon said that she “refuted” allegations made under parliamentary privilege in the Commons by former Tory Brexit secretary David Davis about the Scottish government’s handling of sexual harassment allegations against Alex Salmond.
Davidson put to her:
It is alleged that a legal document had been deliberately withdrawn from being handed over to a court by government officials - is that something the first minister knows happened and is it not a summary dismissal offence?
Sturgeon replied that this was factually inaccurate, and that the document in question was not withheld, but handed over to the court in December 2018.
Sturgeon went on:
Having David Davis, a Tory MP, reading out in the House of Commons, under the protection of parliamentary privilege, reading out his old pal Alex Salmond’s conspiracy theories about the sexual harassment allegations against him, must be the very epitome of the old boys’ club. Anyone who chooses to cheer that on should not pretend to have the interests of the women concerned at heart.
UK regulator investigating 5 cases of rare brain blood clots after 11m doses of AstraZeneca vaccine administered
Five cases of a rare type of blood clotting condition have occurred among people who have received the Oxford University/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, the UK medicines regulator has said.
The five cases involved cerebral sinus vein thrombosis (CSVT) – a rare type of blood clot on the brain – occurring together with lowered platelets. One of the five is known to have died.
However experts stressed the event was rare – just five cases out of around 11m people who have received the vaccine.
While there is no proof that the cases were caused by the jab itself, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) says it is investigating further.
But, they note, such rare blood clotting events can occur naturally in those who have not received the vaccine, and among those who have had Covid.
Updated
Here is my colleague Denis Campbell’s story about the extra £6.6bn Matt Hancock announced for the NHS in England in his Commons statement. Denis says the announcement will have “defused a simmering row between the NHS and the government” over what the health service needed.
Brexit minister Lord Frost tells peers it's 'too early' to draw conclusions about exports to EU
Boris Johnson’s Brexit negotiator, Lord Frost, has been answering questions from his new seat on the front bench in the House of Lords this morning, after his promotion to the cabinet last month. He didn’t make it look as though the switch from backroom operator to frontline politician has been an entirely seamless one.
Frost sought to brush off the 40% drop in exports to the EU in January, when the transition period came to an end, insisting it was too early to draw any conclusions. Responding to a question from former Labour general secretary Lord McNicol, he said:
A unique combination of factors made it inevitable that we would see a reduction in trade with the EU in January, and we should use caution in drawing any conclusions from the initial figures released on 12 March.
Frost insisted the government had “pulled out all the stops” to help businesses affected by new rules, and gave a surprisingly warm assessment of the EU’s role, given the rising tensions since he took over from the more emollient Michael Gove.
Generally the European authorities have been very supportive and pragmatic in the way they have dealt with issues at the border, and we welcome that fact.
But the Labour leader in the Lords, Lady Smith, a seasoned political operator, was clearly exasperated at the new minister’s insouciance over the sharp drop in exports and the unilateral extension of grace periods in the Northern Ireland protocol, and pressed him. She asked:
We’re all behind ensuring support for the government’s border plans; and yet here we are, three months in, and that model’s creaking, and the noble lord and minister is now tearing up implementation dates. Can he tell us what’s gone wrong?
Frost hesitantly reiterated that it was “too early to draw conclusions”, before listing the measures the government was taking to support businesses “through the initial difficulties”.
Hurrying out of the chamber as the session came to an end, he was called back by the Lord Speaker, Lord Fowler, who told him: “The rule is not to go out when the Lord Speaker is standing.”
The Welsh government has said it is “working through” what the UK-wide vaccine delay means to Wales. Health minister Vaughan Gething said:
We have been informed by the UK government that some of the supply we had been expecting to arrive in the UK before mid-April will now be delivered up to four weeks later than originally planned.
The UK government has provided assurances that this should not impact on delivery of our commitments to offer a first dose of the vaccine to the current nine priority groups by the middle of April and all other eligible adults by the end of July.
However, as we have every step of the way, we are working through exactly what the reduced forecast means for our programme in Wales. We will continue discussions with the UK government with a focus on ensuring we meet the milestones in our national strategy.
Significant supplies of vaccine were delivered to vaccination centres and GP practices last week and additional supplies are being delivered this week. So there will be no impact on those who have received their appointment for vaccination.
In its analysis of the budget published the day after it was delivered by Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the leading public spending thinktank, said the departmental spending plans were unrealistic, because in practice Sunak would have to spend more than he was saying, and yet he had not explained how this extra spending would be funded.
But now the IFS has had a further look at the figures, and it has concluded that the situation is even worse than it first thought. In an analysis published this morning it says:
Buried in the budget document, and unmentioned in the chancellor’s speech to the house, was a £4 billion a year cut to departments’ non-virus budgets from 2022−23 onwards, on top of the £10 to £13 billion cut from those spending plans in November. In their analysis published alongside the budget, the OBR noted that these cuts to future spending plans, combined with pre-agreed cash settlements for the Ministry of Defence and the NHS and schools in England, would imply a real-terms cut of around 1% for remaining, ‘unprotected’ departments between 2021−22 and 2022−23.
But this figure does not account for the Barnett formula and therefore it actually understates the scale of the cuts facing unprotected departments in 2022−23, which is in fact more like a 3% real-terms cut. And, if instead of focusing on year-on-year changes, we compare to the level of spending that was planned pre-pandemic, the cut is greater still. The outlook for unprotected public services under these plans is therefore even tougher than it seems.
The IFS says that, compared to what was planned before the pandemic, unprotected spending departments face a cut of around 8%.
Nicola Sturgeon has told MSPs at FMQs that she expects 500,000 fewer doses of the coronavirus vaccine to be available than previously anticipated, after talks with Pfizer and AstraZeneca.
As a result of this, Sturgeon said there would be periods in April when second doses will have to be prioritised, but added that she still expects to offer first doses to the remaining JCVI priority groups – over-50s, unpaid carers and those with underlying health conditions - by the middle of April, as planned.
The first dose will also still be offered to all adults by the end of July.
Updated
And this is what Hancock told MPs about how the vaccine shortage would not affect the timetable for people to get their vaccines. He said:
To any member of the public who is watching, what I would say very clearly is that the vaccination programme is on track to meet the targets that we have set out ...
We are on track for the dates in the roadmap and there is no impact on the roadmap from the changes to vaccine supply that we’ve been detailing in the last 24 hours.
As explained earlier (see 8.39am), although ministers are still confident of hitting their formal deadlines, until recently there had been hopes that they could meet them quite a bit earlier.
Updated
Hancock says vaccination booster programme 'likely' to be needed in autumn
In his reply to Jonathan Ashworth, Hancock also said it was “likely” that a vaccine booster programme would be needed in the autumn (ie, a requirement for people to have a top-up dose) to deal with new variants. But that was not yet certain, he said.
Updated
Hancock says vast majority of people won't be affected by vaccine shortage
Duncan Baker (Con) asked Hancock to confirm that the “vast majority” of people would see no change in the delivery of their first and second doses as a result of the latest hold-up. Hancock said that was correct.
Chris Grayling, the former Tory cabinet minister, asked why hospitality was having to wait another month to open when coronavirus rates have fallen so sharply.
Hancock says the government had set out its plans for easing lockdown in its roadmap and was sticking to it.
In the Commons Jacob Young (Con) invited Matt Hancock to respond to what Dominic Cummings said about the record of the Department of Health in his evidence to MPs yesterday.
Hancock did not refer to Cummings directly, but he said Department of Health staff had worked “incredibly hard and very, very effectively” on the vaccine programme.
UPDATE: From the Sun’s Kate Ferguson
Matt Hancock reignites his war of words with Dominic Cummings as he fumes: "The whole point of the vaccine effort is it is one big team effort. I want to share my gratitude with officials in the Dept of Health who have worked incredibly hard"
— Kate Ferguson (@kateferguson4) March 18, 2021
Updated
Hancock says EU should respect 'contract law' ensuring UK vaccine supplies
Asked about the EU threat to hold up supplies of vaccine to the UK, Hancock says all countries need to respect contract law.
He says Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission president, herself said there should be no restrictions on companies fulfilling their contractual responsibilities. He goes on:
We fully expect those contracts to be delivered on, because there are very significant consequences to breaking contract law.
UPDATE: Here is the full quote.
I think that it is vital that we all work together. These supply chains for the manufacture of these vaccines cross borders. They are often global supply chains and it is vital that we work together to deliver them and there is a need for that co-operation and there is of course a need for all countries to respect contract law.
That is the basis of international trade and I’m sure that the European Union will live up to the commitments and statements that it has made, including President Von der Leyen herself who has said that there should not be restrictions on companies when they are fulfilling contractual responsibilities.
Of course there should not and we fully expect those contracts to be delivered on because there are very significant consequences to breaking contract law.
Updated
In response to Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow secretary of state, Hancock says supplies of vaccine from Moderna are expected in the coming weeks.
But he says he has always been “cautious” about giving details of when supplies will be available. The events of the last 24 hours have reinforced that, he says.
He says there will be “no impact” on the roadmap for easing restrictions from the “change” in supply.
Ashworth asked if the extra money for the NHS was the final offer, or whether a further top-up could come later in the year. Hancock said the chancellor has said the NHS will get whatever it needs.
Hancock announces extra £6.6bn next year to cover additional costs of Covid
Hancock says the NHS will get an extra £6.6bn for the first half of the next financial year to cover extra costs generated by the pandemic.
This is on top of the extra £3bn allocated at the spending review, he says.
He says he is also allocating £594m for safe hospital discharge.
And he says he is allocating another £341m for adult social care.
Last week Sir Simon Stevens, the NHS England chief executive, said the NHS needed roughly £8bn more to cover Covid costs in the next financial year.
Updated
Hancock says hospitalisation rates have halved in the past 16 days.
He says shielding will come to an end on 31 March.
Hancock says the UK has been providing Gibraltar with vaccines, and Gibraltar has become the first nation in the world to vaccinate its entire adult population, he says.
Updated
Hancock says people will continue to get first doses in April
Hancock says he wants to clear up some rumours circulating.
He says there will be no weeks in April when people will not be getting first doses.
He says there will be no cancelled appointments.
And he says second doses will go ahead as planned.
Hancock tells MPs 1.7m vaccine doses delayed due to need to retest stability
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is making a statement to MPs.
He says the process of making vaccines is complicated.
Because vaccines are distributed so fast, changes to supply schedules make a big difference, he says.
He says we are in the middle of a “bumper” few weeks for supply.
But in April supply is “tighter than this month”, and 12 million people will need a second dose.
He says there has been a delay caused by the need to retest 1.7m doses.
Events like this are to be expected in a manufacturing endeavour of this complexity and this shows the rigour of our safety checks.
And he says there has been a delay in an arrival from the Serum Institute of India. But he pays tribute to the SII. They have been “remarkable”, he says.
Now, I want to put on the record my gratitude to the Serum Institute of India for the incredible work that they’re doing producing vaccine not just for us in the UK, but for the whole world.
Their technology and their capability, which has been approved by the MHRA [Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency], is remarkable.
The Serum Institute of India producing a billion doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine this year, it truly is partnership that we can be proud of.
Updated
Welsh Labour’s deputy leader, Carolyn Harris, led the rhetoric against the party’s opponents at its election campaign launch. Harris, who will head the Senedd elections campaign, said:
The Tories will repeat anything their bosses in London tell them - they don’t care about Wales. And Plaid [Cymru] just want to put up barriers and stoke division.
But I’ll tell you what really gets my goat. It when they - the Tories and Plaid - suggest that the reason Wales has elected Welsh Labour governments for the past 20 years is because the Welsh public are somehow being hoodwinked or tricked - as if they’re stupid. The sheer snobbery of it.
On a more positive note, Harris pointed out this was the first election for a Welsh parliament – rather than an assembly. The devolved administration has been upgraded because it has full law-making powers and the ability to vary taxes.
Harris said: “This election will mark a coming of age for Wales.”
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Indian government responsible for hold-up in vaccine supply to UK, says manufacturer
Adar Poonawalla, head of the Serum Institute of India, which is manufacturing the AstraZeneca vaccine in India, has told the Daily Telegraph that a decision by the Indian government is to blame for a hold-up in supplies to the UK, not production problem. He said:
It is solely dependent on India and it has nothing to do with the SII. It is to do with the Indian government allowing more doses to the UK.
The Telegraph says the Indian government is temporarily holding up exports because of a concern about rising cases in the country.
SII has already exported 5m doses to the UK, but another 5m are on order. (See 9.39am.)
A total of 39,118 people tested positive for Covid-19 in England at least once in the week to 10 March, according to the latest test and trace figures. As PA Media reports, this is down 14% on the previous week and is the lowest number since the week to 23 September 2020.
Boris Johnson is going to hold a press conference at No 10 this afternoon, Downing Street has announced.
At the Welsh Labour election campaign launch Mark Drakeford, the first minister, announced what the party bills as a “radical and practical plan for recovery”.
If re-elected in May, Drakeford said a Welsh Labour government would deliver:
- Recovery after Covid: the biggest catch-up programme in our NHS and schools, and a new medical school in north Wales. Employing more than 1,800 additional tutoring staff to help children catch up.
- A young persons’ guarantee: work, education or training offer for all under-25s. Includes creating 125,000 new apprenticeships.
- A fair deal for care: the real living wage for care workers.
- A greener country: abolish more single-use plastics and create a national forest for Wales.
- Safer communities: more police community support officers on our streets.
- New jobs for Wales: create thousands of jobs in a low-carbon house building revolution.
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Welsh Labour puts Drakeford's 'careful, considered' leadership at centre of election campaign
Welsh Labour believes the first minister, Mark Drakeford, has performed well during the Covid crisis – and so not surprisingly there was much talk of the value of strong leadership at the party’s Senedd elections campaign.
Drakeford took what felt like a swipe at Boris Johnson during his speech:
Leadership that isn’t about simply saying things that you think people want to hear.
That isn’t about chasing the next day’s headlines. Leadership that is earned through honesty and by making decisions that match bold ambition with practical reality.
Sarah Murphy, the party’s candidate for Bridgend, said the last 12 months had made it clear that “compassionate leadership” counted. “We have been fortunate in Wales to have compassionate, careful and considered leadership at the time we needed it most,” she said.
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Patricia Donnelly, the head of the vaccine rollout in Northern Ireland, has said that the vaccine supply shortage could hold up the rollout of the vaccine in the region by up to four weeks - but that a two-week delay was more likely.
Giving evidence to the Northern Ireland assembly’s health committee, she said that all first vaccination appointments already booked would be honoured, and that people expecting a second dose would get it.
She said more people would continue to get first jabs in April but at a slightly reduced rate. She told MLAs:
I think, worst-case scenario, it probably puts us back by four weeks. The mitigation measures that we put in place we hope will only delay us by two weeks, so it won’t have a huge impact.
A mass vaccination centre at Belfast’s SSE Arena is due to open at the end of March. As PA Media reports, Donnelly said the initial hope was that by the time the centre began operating the vaccine would be on offer to the over-40 age cohort. She said the over-40s were now likely to have to wait for a further fortnight.
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AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines may be more effective against Brazil variant than previously thought, research suggests
The vaccines from Oxford/AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech may be more effective against the P1 Brazil variant of coronavirus than previously thought, PA Media reports. PA says:
Research from Oxford University, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, measured the level of antibodies that can neutralise - or stop infection from - variants that are circulating in South Africa, Brazil and elsewhere.
It found that vaccines do not work as well against the variants as against the original strain of coronavirus, but that the P1 Brazilian variant may be less resistant to vaccine-induced antibodies than first feared.
Prof Gavin Screaton, lead scientist on the study, said: “This study extends our understanding the role of changes in the spike protein in escape from the human immune response, measured as neutralising antibody levels. The results suggest that P1 might be less resistant to vaccine and convalescent immune responses than B1351 (South Africa), and similar to B117 (Kent).”
The study used blood samples from people who have natural antibodies generated from a Covid-19 infection and from those whose antibodies were induced by the Oxford or Pfizer vaccines.
It found a nearly three-fold reduction in the level of virus neutralisation by the antibodies generated by the Oxford and Pfizer vaccines for the Kent and Brazil variants when compared with the original strain, and a nine-fold and 7.6-fold reduction respectively against the South Africa variant.
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Gibraltar tells Home Office it won't house offshore camp for asylum seekers
According to a report (paywall) on the front page of today’s Times, Priti Patel, the home secretary, has revived her plan to send people who arrive in the UK and apply for asylum abroad while their applications are processed. Steven Swinford and Matt Dathan report:
Priti Patel, the home secretary, will publish details next week of plans for the biggest overhaul of the asylum and immigration system for a generation. It will include a consultation on changing the law so that migrants seeking asylum can be sent to processing centres in third countries.
The Times understands that Gibraltar, a British overseas territory, and the Isle of Man, a Crown dependency, have been discussed by officials. Other islands off the British coast, possibly in Scotland, are said to be under consideration. Off-shore British territories have been described as “in the mix”.
TIMES: Setback for Britain’s vaccine rollout #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/siEMYBtIUr
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) March 17, 2021
But Fabian Picard, the chief minister of Gibraltar, told BBC News a few minutes ago that he had not been consulted about setting up a camp for asylum seekers in Gibraltar - and that if the Home Office were to ask, the answer would be no. He told the programme:
Immigration is a matter which is under the Gibraltar constitution, the responsibility of Gibraltar ministers. No one has spoken to me about these issues or approached me. Gibraltar has its own, distinct immigration and asylum regime, and our Immigration Act, which is not the UK Immigration Act, and of course geographically Gibraltar finds itself in a very difficult position because bringing people into the small geography of Gibraltar is never going to be a practical way of dealing with these things ....
[This plan] has not been raised with me. If it were raised with me, I would raise these very serious concerns and these constitutional issues, which I think make it entirely unviable in the context of Gibraltar.
The Isle of Man also says it has not been approached by the Home Office. This is from the BBC’s Callum May.
Meanwhile the @IOMGovernment say: “The UK Government would not be able to open any sort of processing centre on the Island without consent. The UK Government has not contacted the Isle of Man Government about any such proposal.”
— Callum May (@callummay) March 18, 2021
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MPs to vote on extending lockdown legislation next Thursday, Rees-Mogg says
In the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, has announced that the vote on extending the lockdown legislation will be held on Thursday next week.
The business for the week commencing 22 March will include: pic.twitter.com/mBpON8Aakq
— Leader of the House of Commons (@CommonsLeader) March 18, 2021
Moderna says it will start delivering its vaccine to UK in April
The Moderna vaccine, which is the third vaccine approved for use in the UK, will start arriving in April, the company has said. This is from Sky’s Scott Beasley.
💉 BREAK: Moderna says it expects to begin deliveries of its Covid vaccine to the UK in April
— Scott Beasley (@SkyScottBeasley) March 18, 2021
Under-50s will now have to wait until May for first vaccine dose, says senior doctor
On the Today programme this morning Prof Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said the vaccine supply shortage was “disappointing news”. He explained:
This is a bit of a setback. What we’re going to see over the next few weeks, where we’ve got bumper supply for a short period of time, is we’re going to be pushing on with the people who are high risk, people over the age of 50 and under the age of 50 who are vulnerable in some way or other.
And then during April we’ll be focusing on those who need second doses - the highly vulnerable people who received their first dose back in January and February.
So the impact of this shortage of supply will happen on the group that we were hoping to start on in April, which is people under the age of 50 without any pre-existing conditions, who are now going to have to wait till May.
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The Commons liaison committee has confirmed that it is holding another evidence session with Boris Johnson on Wednesday next week, at 3.30pm. The session will cover Covid, the economy and the UK’s place in the world.
In an interview on the Today programme this morning Prof Adam Finn, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said the vaccine supply shortage “may mean that the next phase [of the vaccination rollout], phase two [the under-50s], may kick off slightly later than we’d optimistically hoped”.
He also said the delay “could have an effect on infection rates because as we move down through the population, that’s really where the impact lies”.
But he went on:
In terms of hospitalisation though, that’s really about phase 1: there are younger people being hospitalised with Covid but many fewer than we see in over-50s. So as long as phase 1 gets done as completely as we’re hoping it to, we really should see the impact on hospitalisations continue.
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The UK’s shortage is partly caused by a delay in a delivery from India of 5m doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the BBC is reporting.
A spokesperson for the Serum Institute of India told the BBC:
Five million doses had been delivered a few weeks ago to the UK and we will try to supply more later, based on the current situation and the requirement for the government immunisation programme in India.
When Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, was asked about this on the Today programme, he refused to deny that there was a problem with supplies from India, but he insisted that no single supply chain was to blame. He told the programme:
A number of global manufacturers are experiencing issues ... It’s not that there’s any one factory responsible for this or any one country.
He also refused to say whether the problem with India was caused by a manufacturing hold-up, or by an Indian government decision to limit vaccine exports.
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Minister admits supply shortage will slow vaccine rollout
Good morning. As we report in our overnight splash, a “significant reduction” in vaccine supply means people under 50 in the UK may have to wait up to a month longer than previously expected for their first jab.
At the 5pm Downing Street press conference last night Matt Hancock, the health secretary, insisted that the shortfall was just a routine and he refused to acknowledge that it would make a material difference to people waiting for a vaccine. It was not one of his more convincing performances, and afterwards he was accused of not being honest with the public.
Overnight No 10 seems to have realised that the critics were right and that the original Hancock line would not hold. Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, has been doing the broadcast round this morning and he has been delivering a refined verdict; the vaccine rollout will be slower than expected, he said, although he insisted the key target dates would still be met. He told BBC Breakfast:
We are experiencing some supply issues so it does mean the vaccine rollout will be slightly slower than we may have hoped but not slower than the target we set ourselves.
We’re going to move forward as quickly as we possibly can but it won’t be as fast as we might have hoped for a few weeks but then we have every reason to believe that supply will increase the months of May, June and July.
But Jenrick also said the government was “confident” that it was still on course to meet its two key vaccine targets; for everyone in the phase 1 priority groups (all over-50s, people with underlying health conditions, and health and social care workers) to have a first dose by 15 April, and for all adults to have a first dose by the end of July.
Given that this timetable won’t be affected, then arguably there will be no delay to the vaccine rollout programme. But with the government in “under-promise and over-deliver” mode at the moment, this timetable was deliberately cautious and in private officials were hoping for a faster rollout. Last week, in a story attributed to “senior government sources”, the Telegraph was reporting that “everyone over 40 should be offered their first Covid-19 vaccine by Easter”.
Here is the agenda for the day.
10am: Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a virtual Q&A during a visit to Scotland.
10am: Former cabinet secretary Lord Sedwill gives evidence to a Lords committee on relations with China.
11am: Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, launches Welsh Labour’s campaign for the Senedd elections in May.
12pm: Downing Street holds its daily lobby briefing.
12pm: Sir Kevan Collins, the education recovery commissioner, gives a speech to the Association of School and College Leaders virtual conference
Around 12pm: Matt Hancock, the health secretary, makes a statement to MPs about Covid.
12.30pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, takes questions in the Scottish parliament.
2pm: Public Health England publishes its weekly Covid surveillance report.
Politics Live has been mostly about Covid for the last year and I will be covering UK coronavirus developments today, as well as non-coronavirus Westminster politics. For global coronavirus news, do read our global live blog.
I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
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