Vaccine Roll-out

Debate between John Howell and Matt Hancock

Thursday 21st January 2021 Commons Chamber

[John Howell (Henley) (Con) [V]]

I welcome the opening of vaccination centres across the country, including one imminently at the Kassam stadium in Oxford, but at a meeting that I attended last night of community leaders in Oxfordshire, no one had an idea of when the vaccine centre at Harwell would become operational. Could the Secretary of State oblige?

[Matt Hancock]

[Inaudible.] the date when it will open. There is a huge amount of investment going into Harwell to make sure that we have cutting-edge vaccination manufacturing facilities for the future. The project is being led by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, so I will write to my hon. Friend with all the details.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between John Howell and Matt Hancock

Programme motion
Monday 19th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Of course, no vaccine technology is certain, but the longer we go without bad news, the better things are, because we would hear if things had not gone well, so things are therefore progressing. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation produces a prioritisation based on clinical advice and its clinical judgment on who ought to get the vaccine in what order. This is a really important question to ensure that we roll out the vaccine fairly and on an agreed basis. I will ask the Committee to look at the hon. Gentleman’s specific request to make sure that is taken into account. The Committee’s advice is very important for the Government decision that I hope the whole country can then get behind.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

I make no apology for again bringing up the question of co-trimoxazole since I believe the drug can help very much in the fight against covid. Following the successful trials in India and Bangladesh, has there been any progress here?

[Matt Hancock]

My hon. Friend is right to raise that question, and I will write to him with a full update once I have taken advice from my clinical advisers and from Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, who leads on this area.

Coronavirus Response

Debate between John Howell and Matt Hancock

Monday 20th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

The hon. Lady makes an important point, but the No. 1 cause of people not self-isolating is if they have coronavirus without symptoms and do not get a test. That is where we need the most effort. However, I hear the point that she is making, and I will take it away.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

Is my right hon. Friend aware that co-trimoxazole is receiving tests against covid in Bangladesh and that the increasingly good results from there and India will be published very shortly? When are we likely to see it in use here?

[Matt Hancock]

I will immediately look into the proposal; I would be surprised if my scientists were not already across the trial. If there is a positive signal from that trial, we will make sure that we will absolutely bring it forward.

Coronavirus

Debate between John Howell and Matt Hancock

Wednesday 17th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

I accept responsibility for everything that happens across the health and social care piece. It is incredibly important to work with care homes, as we have, and to fund care homes, as we have, to put in place infection control. Of course, being in hospital is also not a safe place for people who do not need to be in hospital. The infection control procedures are now there in care homes, with the funding, and that has been the case since the start—since well before the date the hon. Lady mentioned. Although the challenge in care homes has been very significant, we have thankfully seen in this country a lower proportion of overall fatalities from this disease in our care homes than in those across the rest of Europe. That is a good thing, but that is not to say that there have not been significant challenges.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

What further examination of the potential use of co-trimoxazole has taken place, and when will we know the results?

[Matt Hancock]

Co-trimoxazole is another the prospect that we are looking at, but I am afraid that, as with my answer to my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (John Redwood), the timing has to be driven by the science. If we get success, when a result in which the clinicians have scientific confidence can be met, we will stick with the clinical trial methodology that leads to concrete results. Too many other places around the world have pulled clinical trials early because of promising results that have turned out not to be well founded.