programme as our primary line of defence. so, no return of rules to contain the virus. instead, a re emphasis on boosters and vaccinating children and those who have so far declined. vaccines are central to what the government calls its plan a. they are also central to understanding why infections are going up. let me show you why. it starts with the speed of the vaccine roll out. we had one of the fastest starts in the world, and that is a factor now. here isjohn burn murdoch from the financial times. at the start of this year, we were patting ourselves on the back for how fast the uk s roll out of vaccines was going. that has actually ironically become a bit of a problem for us now, because it means that we have this issue of waning immunity. the point being that immunity wanes over time. here, we see immunity a month after vaccination,
with mandatory masks, vaccine passports and work from home orders, so called plan b. the government has a responsibility to protect the nation s health, it has a responsibility to make sure the health service has the capacity to care for the patients. we have a situation where the evidence tells you that you need to be doing something. covid infections are mainly being driven by secondary pupils, with the highest seven day average seen in wales, at nearly 600 cases per 100,000 people, and the lowest rates in scotland, where infections have been falling for several weeks. while the number of patients with covid in hospital is much lower than earlier in the year, some areas like wales are under severe pressure, but for now in england the government is sticking with plan a. we are seeing infections rising. you saw what the secretary of state said yesterday.
year, some areas like wales are under severe pressure, but for now in england the government is sticking with plan a. taste in england the government is sticking with plan a.- in england the government is sticking with plan a. we are seeing infections rising. sticking with plan a. we are seeing infections rising. you sticking with plan a. we are seeing infections rising. you saw - sticking with plan a. we are seeing infections rising. you saw what - sticking with plan a. we are seeing infections rising. you saw what the j infections rising. you saw what the secretary of state said yesterday. and we are seeing hospitalisation and death rates rising, but at a much lower rate. we don t believe, even though the nhs is under real pressure, as it always is in winter, that it pressure, as it always is in winter, thatitis pressure, as it always is in winter, that it is under unsustainable pressure, and now is not the right moment to look to trigger plan b. the health secretary signalling a
the vaccine programme are holding up and mean that the country is in a much better position. a slight subplot if you like is the position labour is in getting itself into a little bit of a tangle as to whether it back to the government s move to plan b in england. the shadow health secretary suggesting earlier in an interview on times radio that the party was in favour of plan b, later clarified and it seems that they are not calling for that to happen now. nevertheless, cases clearly are going up but the key figure is hospitalisations and just how much pressure the nhs is under, and just how much pressure it can bear. help me understand how much pressure it can bear. help me understand the how much pressure it can bear. help me understand the government thinking, because it would have known the criticism was coming this way. it knew covid cases would go up as we headed to the winter, why is it sticking to plan a? it as we headed to the winter, why is it sticking to plan a? it sti
we have a situation where the evidence tells you that you need to be doing something. covid infections are mainly being driven by secondary pupils, with the highest seven day average seen in wales, at nearly 600 cases per 100,000 people, and the lowest rates in scotland, where infections have been falling for several weeks. while the number of patients with covid in hospital is much lower than earlier in the year, some areas like wales are under severe pressure, but for now in england the government is sticking with plan a. we are seeing infections rising. you saw what the secretary of state said yesterday. and we are seeing hospitalisations and deaths rising, but at a much lower rate. we don t believe, even though the nhs is under real pressure, it always is in winter, but it is particularly now, that it is under unsustainable pressure, and that now is not the right moment to look to trigger plan b. the health secretary signalling a more cautious approach,