Professor Karina Butler:

I was going to come back to the question about people in leadership positions getting vaccines and the whole concept of prioritisation and laying things out. As I said at the beginning, this is a living document. We have to be pragmatic and flexible. For example, if a vial of vaccine with five doses in it is being opened and four people who are scheduled turn up to receive it and there is a fifth person in the room who is not on the priority list, the vaccine is not going to be wasted if that fifth person is agreeable to getting it. There should be that level of flexibility.

The point the Deputy has made about people in leadership roles is important and we should be able to do whatever helps people and builds confidence. However, that does not apply to a point where people feel that we are holding back or depriving someone else. I am sure that people do not want to be seen as if they are jumping ahead. This is a finely balanced situation. There are people who absolutely want to be up there at the front of the line. We do not want others who feel they should put themselves ahead of the queue. We have got to be reasonable about it. That is all I have to say on that.

The Deputy asked about delays. I am not involved in the logistics of this, but we may get a limited amount of a vaccine. We all need to recognise the time of year we are in. The first priorities are people in nursing homes and healthcare professionals. It is not going to be a matter of completing that as number 1 on the list and moving on to number 2. We will be looking at what is practical and some of those people may be vaccinated in parallel. It may not be reasonable to land suddenly at a nursing home to give vaccinations in the period between Christmas and the new year. People need to have time to get the information and give informed consent. It may be reasonable to start vaccinating a small group who are at the highest risk. Those might be the vaccinators themselves or people in critical care areas and emergency rooms. That kind would be a practical approach to using the vaccine as soon as it becomes available and not delaying anybody's vaccination.

As I said earlier and as is contained in the statement, all of this has to be done rapidly but not rushed. Even during the little delays that are occurring at this stage, we are learning as we go along. We are getting the experience from the beginning of the roll-out in other areas, and all of that is to the good.