Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)

Meeting date: Wednesday, December 1, 2021

Official Report 1040KB pdf

Point of Order

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I seek your guidance on whether there is any mechanism available to question the Government on an issue of great urgency in relation to the vaccination programme.

As members will be aware, yesterday the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation changed the guidance on the period that must have elapsed after a second vaccination and before people are eligible for a booster vaccination, from six months to three. The First Minister reiterated the importance of receiving the vaccine and the booster.

I have been contacted by several people who therefore became eligible for the booster and were able to book online to receive it, who were then turned away at the vaccination centre. That simply means wasted slots and wasted shots. We must hope that those who took the time to attend, only to be turned away, decide to return.

There is a fundamental and dangerous mismatch between what the public are being told by ministers and the reality on the ground. That must be rectified immediately. We need a strong statement from the Government, so that people can have confidence that the vaccination programme is open to them and can be delivered, particularly given the uncertainty that the omicron variant has bought.

Thank you, Mr Marra. I suggest that you use the usual mechanisms to put questions to the Government. There are several mechanisms for doing that, including urgent questions, questions at First Minister’s question time, supplementary questions and the like. You will be aware of those mechanisms.