Congratulations to my wife Kate who was elected as a Swindon Borough Councillor last Thursday in the Priory Vale ward by-election, with a record share of the vote. She has already taken up a number of issues and attended her first set of meetings – keen to hit the ground running. I have no doubt she will be a brilliant Councillor, working alongside her ward colleagues Vinay Manro and Jo Morris.
Turning to our vaccine programme, three weeks ago, the Government extended the vaccine rollout to everyone under-30, a significant milestone in the programme. The enthusiasm with which young people have taken up their invitation to be vaccinated has been phenomenal – in just three weeks half of all adults under 30 have received their first dose.
I have made this point on a number of occasions – but getting vaccinated is so important in terms of saving lives and ending restrictions. Latest modelling analysis from Public Health England (PHE) and the University of Cambridge’s MRC Biostatistics Unit suggests that the coronavirus vaccination programme has so far prevented an estimated 7.2 million infections and 27,000 deaths in England alone. The data also shows that, while the number of infections has increased significantly, the number of people being admitted to hospital with COVID has not – clearly showing that vaccines have broken the link between Covid infections and hospitalisations.
This week also saw an announcement that the most vulnerable could be offered booster Covid-19 vaccines from September. Subject to advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), from September, everyone over 50 and the most vulnerable will be offered booster vaccines to help prolong the significant protections they have already obtained via the first two doses of the vaccine.
These booster jabs will help safeguard the progress of our vaccine rollout by protecting the most vulnerable from variants and flu ahead of the winter period.
We have made such significant progress since the vaccination programme began, and we are in a very strong position going forward. I was delighted this week to hear the new Health Secretary Sajid Javid confirm that, as it stands, the Government is not seeking to extend restrictions beyond the 19th July – allowing us to enjoy a Great British Summer.
As we continue to ease restrictions and return to normality, we have to continue providing businesses and employees the support they need. As such, the next phase of our economic support schemes began this week too. As laid out in the March 2021 Budget, we are now beginning to taper down our furlough scheme, with employees now having to contribute 10 per cent of wages for hours not worked.
Most of our economic support schemes will run until September or after, thereby helping to smooth the transition back to normality.
Finally, all eyes will be on England v Ukraine on Saturday after the amazing result against Germany! Surely Grealish has to start?
England’s steady progress so far has really caught everyone’s imagination – even my daughter Margot shouts ‘come on England!’ every time she sees an England flag! As excited parents we bought Margot an England kit, she loves it, though the shorts were a little too big. We really need England to make it to the final – the shorts might just fit by then!
