Julian Questions Minister On Ensuring Welfare of Armed Forces Personnel Assisting With Vaccine Rollout
February 2, 2021
In the House of Commons yesterday, York Outer MP Julian Sturdy questioned Defence Ministers on ensuring that the service personnel who are assisting with the vaccine rollout across the country are receiving the support they would expect if stationed at barracks.
Over 5,000 Armed Forces personnel are currently deployed on the largest ever peacetime resilience operation, across all four of the home nations and focused on three strands of the COVID response – testing, vaccines and clinical support for the NHS. Twenty Vaccine Quick Reaction Force teams have now been deployed and a further twenty-one are standing-up to double the Armed Forces support available for vaccinating. A further 800 defence medics are joining NHS workers on the front line of hospitals across the UK.
With the support of the armed forces bolstering our teams of volunteers and NHS staff, the UK has now administered over nine million vaccine doses across 1,300 sites as well as in care homes and in the homes of those who cannot travel. These efforts put us on course to reach the target set by the Prime Minister to vaccinate all those in the top four priority groups by mid-February.
In his response to Julian’s question, James Heappey MP, Minister for the Armed Forces, said:
“I can confirm that that is very much the requirement, and we would fully expect all those whom we send out to support local authorities to be properly catered for. There have been one or two instances —one was reported to me by my hon. Friend—in which the service has fallen short. That is not good enough; we are investigating.”
After Defence Questions, Julian commented:
“It is reassuring to hear that the one or two isolated reports of Armed Forces personnel not receiving support that matched the high standards set out by the Ministry of Defence have been acted on quickly by the Government.
It comes as no surprise to anyone who knows the incredible work our Armed Forces do across the world that their assistance with our vaccine rollout has only bolstered our efforts allowing us to vaccinate more people faster. Along with the incredible NHS staff and selfless volunteers, we owe them a debt of gratitude for their continued amazing work.”
