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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 14 March 2025
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Displaying 2390 contributions

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COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Baseline Health Protection Measures

Meeting date: 18 November 2021

John Mason

Others may come back to you on that, but I appreciate that answer.

I want to switch to things that Mr Stevenson has said about vaccination passports, for example. Do you think that you have been slightly overstating your case, that there has been a certain amount of crying wolf, and that people are not taking you seriously because you use such strong language, such as the word “devastating”? That is my key question.

I have tried to get into a restaurant in Edinburgh on a Wednesday night, and it was absolutely full, and I have gone into a pub in Edinburgh on a Wednesday night, and I could not find a seat. In Glasgow last Friday night, I was in a restaurant that was absolutely full. Parts of the hospitality and licensed trade sector seem to be doing absolutely fine. I went into a COP26 event the other week and showed my passport, and there was no problem; it was absolutely fine. It seems that, in France, a person can go into a cafe or a shop, show their passport, and there are no problems. Do you think that you are overstating your case?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Baseline Health Protection Measures

Meeting date: 18 November 2021

John Mason

Thank you for that.

I will switch to Leon Thompson. The argument has been put previously that, if vaccination passports were used more widely, businesses and individuals would be more familiar with them, so they would become the norm. From what I have heard, that has been the case in France—one of my staff was there recently. Do you think that that would be the case? If a negative test was part of the system, would you be more comfortable with it?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Baseline Health Protection Measures

Meeting date: 18 November 2021

John Mason

I want to switch to Professor Petersen and the question of testing. I had a look at the paper that explains why lateral flow testing may be relatively better now, or better than it was thought to be, in comparison with polymerase chain reaction testing. However, the paper was quite complex. Will you briefly and in simple words explain for me where you have got to with that?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Ministerial Statements and Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 18 November 2021

John Mason

That is good. That is one question done.

Secondly, if we roll out vaccination certificates further, as well as the issue of whether people have had the jags, there is the issue of people not having access to the certificates. For example, I have what I think is the largest bingo place in the UK in my constituency and it has said that 40 per cent of bingo customers do not have access to smartphone technology. Would it be possible to send a paper copy of everyone’s vaccination certificate to them?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Ministerial Statements and Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 18 November 2021

John Mason

I have three questions. We had a useful email from the British Society for Immunology with some figures in it. One is that someone who has been vaccinated is 32 times less likely to die than someone who has not been vaccinated. Another is that the two doses of vaccine give between 92 and 96 per cent protection against hospitalisation. Those are quite strong figures. Do we recognise them?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Baseline Health Protection Measures

Meeting date: 18 November 2021

John Mason

It sounds very encouraging that we can put more reliance on lateral flow tests. Can we go as far as saying that we should just forget about the PCR tests and rely purely on the lateral flow tests?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Baseline Health Protection Measures

Meeting date: 18 November 2021

John Mason

That is very helpful.

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Ministerial Statements and Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 18 November 2021

John Mason

Thirdly, we heard evidence earlier from Professor Petersen that we could put more reliance on the lateral flow tests than we have been doing. What is your thinking on that?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Baseline Health Protection Measures

Meeting date: 11 November 2021

John Mason

Thank you, convener. I am disappointed that some members have had considerably longer to ask questions than some of the rest of us. Mr Whittle has just had 22 minutes, but Jim Fairlie and I now have to share nine minutes between us.

I am also a member of the Finance and Public Administration Committee, which has been discussing preventative spending for some time. That work has been going on for some years, and this is the 10th anniversary of the Christie commission. The point has already been made this morning, especially by Dr Buist, that there has perhaps been a concentration on hospital buildings rather than on those for the primary care sector, where all three witnesses work. Do you have any suggestions on how we take that forward? Assuming that there will be no extra money in total, should we trim money off hospital budgets and put more into primary care? That question goes first to Dr Buist.

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Baseline Health Protection Measures

Meeting date: 11 November 2021

John Mason

I will leave it at that, convener.