Covid-19 Update

I was absolutely delighted that on Friday, following the work of Professor Chappell and others, we were able to make the announcement with respect to the vaccination for those who are pregnant. The prioritisation remains as with people who are not pregnant, so it will essentially be by age unless there is another reason that one might be in a higher group, for instance if you are a social care worker. It does not affect the prioritisation. Hitherto the advice had been understandably cautious, because clinical trials are not done on people who are pregnant. However, there is now very clear advice for those who are pregnant: when it is your turn, come forward and take advice. Have a discussion about your individual circumstances with your clinician. They can then, subject to that individual circumstance, which is of course appropriate in pregnancy, be vaccinated. I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for raising this issue. It was a really important announcement on Friday. Mr Speaker, I probably should have included it in my original statement, but unfortunately it was already rather long. I am absolutely delighted that Professor Chappell and the whole team—it was a big team effort—were able to ensure we made this progress.