"As the noble Baroness rightly says, children, by definition, cannot consent to being on the trial, so places will require parental consent as well as the assent of young people. I can assure your Lordships’ House that, as I have already mentioned, there are strict eligibility criteria to join the …..." Baroness Merron - View Speech
"It is probably helpful to say that no one is required to be on the trial. Nobody will be accepted on to the trial unless there is an extremely rigorous and clinically led judgment about whether a young person is suitable. On the point about transparency, all that information is …..." Baroness Merron - View Speech
"I do agree with that point. We are seeking to protect the safety and interests of children and young people through evidence, and it is right and proper that we get on with that. As the noble Baroness has said, this is a trial; it is being led by King’s …..." Baroness Merron - View Speech
"I can confirm to my noble friend that the transparency will continue and I am grateful for the comments that she made about my right honourable friend the Health Secretary, who I believe has not just been transparent but extremely honest. I very much welcome that...." Baroness Merron - View Speech
"Let me first say to the noble Baroness how grateful we are for her continued professional attention and sensitivity in dealing with this. There was a cross-party approach to the Cass review, and I pay tribute to Sir Sajid Javid, the former Health Secretary for seeing the need for this. …..." Baroness Merron - View Speech
"My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for acknowledging the sensitive language. This is indeed a sensitive issue. For all the division and divided opinion that I know there is, there is also a determination—including across the House, I am sure—that we get this right. The clinical trial …..." Baroness Merron - View Speech
"I thank the noble Lord. Before participants enter the trial—and it is an extremely high bar, as it should be; there will be at least 226 participants required, but that is not a target and there will be no drive to get up to that number—certainly any possible impacts such …..." Baroness Merron - View Speech
"Among NHS staff, as in other groups, there is a vaccine hesitancy. It is not specific and particular to NHS staff but, as we have discussed a number of times in this Chamber, there is perhaps a misunderstanding about vaccines’ efficacy. We also have to acknowledge that conspiracy theorists across …..." Baroness Merron - View Speech
"In my view, the BMA has chosen Christmas strikes to inflict damage on the NHS at a moment of maximum challenge. It has refused to postpone them to January, which would have helped patients and other NHS staff, as the noble and gallant Lord referred to, to cope over Christmas. …..." Baroness Merron - View Speech
"My noble friend will be aware that we take advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation about to whom, when, and where jabs are available on a range of matters, including Covid. The committee keeps that constantly under review. Our immediate threat is in respect of flu and …..." Baroness Merron - View Speech