North Wales MS, Shadow Communities Minister and Chair of the Welsh Parliament’s Cross Party Group on Autism, Mark Isherwood, has emphasised the need for both Autistic adults with a learning disability and Police Officers to be prioritised for the Covid vaccine.
Raising the matter during this week’s Business Statement in the Welsh Parliament, Mr Isherwood stated that research has shown that people with a learning disability are at higher risk of dying from the virus and called for a Welsh Government Statement, quoting a constituent who is calling for Autistic adults to be included on the priority list for the vaccine.
He also called for a Welsh Government Statement responding to the calls by the North Wales Police Federation for Policing to “be considered for some priority on the COVID-19 vaccination programme”.
Speaking in the remote meeting from North Wales, he said:
“As a constituent wrote: ‘My brother lives in North Wales and he has a learning disability and Autism. Recent research by Public Health England stated that the death rate from Covid is six times higher for people with a learning disability than the general population. We know from the Cross-Party Autism Group that there are many more individuals like my Autistic brother in Wales and receiving the Covid vaccine would be an enormous help to them and their families’.”
He added:
“I also call for a Statement responding to the calls by the North Wales Police Federation for Policing to ‘be considered for some priority on the COVID-19 vaccination programme’.
“As they state: ‘day in, day out, police officers put their own safety, health and wellbeing at risk whilst protecting us all. Sadly, in North Wales, we have seen many colleagues who have become unwell with COVID-19, some requiring hospital treatment, and many more having to self-isolate’.”
Mr Isherwood was told to raise both calls with the Minister for Health and Social Services, Vaughan Gething MS, in his subsequent Statement: ‘COVID-19 Vaccine Strategy’, which he did.
Mr Gething told Mr Isherwood that both the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nurse are particularly concerned about the more significant mortality rate for people with a learning disability, but said the “challenge is whether it's actually the learning disability or whether actually there are other underlying conditions”, adding “when you think about it, most of our learning-disability adults have a higher number of people who are entitled to an NHS flu jab, and so, actually, they will be covered within the first phase”.
With regards to protection for Police Officers, he said the Welsh Government is “already trialling lateral flow testing as an additional protection for the police to help people to self-isolate if they're asymptomatic and to protect our workforce within the police. That's a trial that all forces in the whole of Wales are supporting”, adding “In terms of the Police Federation call to be moved up priority lists, I think I've dealt with that extensively both yesterday in the press conference and earlier today. There is a real impact to moving occupational staff groups around, and an impact on preventing the maximum number of deaths”.