My Lords, many noble Lords have already raised concerns and suggestions about the vaccine roll-out. I invite the Minister, when summing up, to cheer us all up, because we have seen the extraordinary capacity of this country to be world-beating in becoming the first country able to vaccinate people. What are the Government doing to understand where the blockages are? Has he been able to pinpoint what Israel has been doing successfully, with the extraordinary achievements in that country? What can the Government bring in short order to this situation? They have shown that they can act quickly. What will change in the coming weeks to speed this up?
My second question is about the Government’s approach to lockdown once the goal of vaccinating the four most vulnerable groups has been reached, a target set for the middle of February. Hopefully, once that has happened, the pressure on the NHS will be very quickly lessened, because far fewer of those getting the virus will require the same level of hospital treatment. Surely then the R number could remain very high—far above one—yet the pressure be alleviated. Are the Government working on the basis that at that point they will relax these restrictions, start to deal with the huge damage that has been caused by the lockdown, and bring back the benefit of being able to move around freely again?
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