"We are here to discuss the vaccine damage payment scheme of 1979. My interest is as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on vaccinations for all, so it is clear that I am absolutely and utterly pro-vaccination.
"I totally agree. The Government’s response to the petition talks of 174 cases. When I was a breast cancer surgeon and there was the scandal about PIP implants, which I knew we had never used, I still had to go through every single breast reconstruction I had done in a …..." Philippa Whitford - View Speech
"It is not just a matter of who they sue—whether it is a pharmaceutical company or the Government. As with contaminated blood, is the point not that people injured by vaccines—or damaged in some way through healthcare—should not struggle with some long court battle? Look at how long the contaminated …..." Philippa Whitford - View Speech
"I thank the Government for accepting the amendment. I raised the issue on Second Reading and I can see the Minister smiling at how many times we have talked about it in Committee and in the prelegislative Committee. It is critical that the safe space is safe. Systems make errors …..." Philippa Whitford - View Speech
"As the Secretary of State has highlighted, we do not know about omicron’s severity, but its mutations certainly suggest a risk of increased transmissibility and possible immune escape. However, it is expected that vaccines will still provide protection—including, hopefully, against serious disease—so I echo the Secretary of State’s call for …..." Philippa Whitford - View Speech
"The challenges in social care of increasing need and demand are the same across the four nations, but until now the approach has been very different. The Scottish Government have always believed in seeing social care as an investment in allowing everyone to participate in society and live as independent …..." Philippa Whitford - View Speech
"I raised the issue of ventilation last summer—we have known for a long time that covid is airborne—and I wrote to the Chancellor on two occasions asking him at least to remove VAT, to help businesses and public bodies that pay VAT to afford ventilation. Sticking 20% extra on the …..." Philippa Whitford - View Speech
"Happy St Andrew’s Day to all Scots across the parliamentary estate, whether they were born in Scotland or are adopted Scots like myself.
We are in the early days and need more research on omicron, the new variant of concern, but clearly it is heavily mutated, including mutations that suggest …..." Philippa Whitford - View Speech
"We do not suffer the same deaths, hospitalisations or outcomes from flu. [Interruption.] Well, we don’t. Look at 170,000 deaths over the last 18 months in the UK. We certainly have bad flu winters where we can get up into the teens towards 20,000, but we have never …..." Philippa Whitford - View Speech