Young people should not be “threatened or induced” into getting Covid-19 vaccines, according to the first minister of Wales, who contrasted his government’s approach to that of Downing Street on the eve of moves to scrap most remaining Welsh restrictions.
Mark Drakeford was speaking as the Welsh government prepared to abandon the rule that tells people to self-isolate if they are pinged by the NHS app, for those who are fully vaccinated, more than a week before England.
In the largest easing of coronavirus measures since the pandemic began, nightclubs are due to reopen and all restrictions on meeting others are to be removed in Wales from Saturday as it moves to Covid alert level 0.
However, Drakeford said that language such as “freedom day”, a phrase associated with Boris Johnson, was not being used in Wales as hundreds of people were still falling ill from Covid-19 every day amid a third wave.
He criticised the measures being rolled out elsewhere in the UK to encourage younger people to get vaccinated on a day when the health secretary, Sajid Javid, is launching a billboard and social media campaign to try to convince under-30s that they will not be able to enjoy themselves fully by going to nightclubs if they are not vaccinated. Other measures have centred on discounts for fast food.
“Neither of those are part of our approach here,” said Drakeford, who added that more than 75% of people aged 18 and 19 had already received a first dose of a vaccine and more than 55% were fully vaccinated.
He told BBC’s Today programme: “So our appeal to young people is not one that threatens them by saying you won’t be able to do things or tries to induce them by offering prizes but just says to them: you have a contribution to make. You can keep yourself but also other people that matter to you safe.”
Wales had succeeded in vaccinating more people in that younger cohort than in other parts of the UK, said Drakeford, who added: “We think the better way to persuade young people to play their part is to appeal to that sense of being part of a Wales-wide effort to keep ourselves safe from the virus and we think that is succeeding.”
Seeking to deflect calls by opposition parties in the Welsh parliament for a Wales-only Covid-19 inquiry, he said his administration had agreed with Johnson and the other devolved leaders that there would be a single inquiry that would look at the “whole experience” of Covid-19 across the UK.
Andrew Davies, the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, tweeted on Friday morning: “After the difficulties and challenges of the past 18 months, I’m relieved to see Wales move to level 0. We now need to learn the lessons and that starts with an inquiry. Labour’s first minister must stop shirking his responsibility.”
But Drakeford told the BBC: “I am very keen that it will have a specific focus on the Welsh experience as well. But you cannot have a rounded understanding of the way the pandemic has played out here in Wales without attending to the interface between decisions made here and the decisions that have been made on a UK basis.”
