ウィスパリング同時通訳研究会コミュのPart 2 UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock held a coronavirus press conference on February 1, 2021.

Matt Hancock: (20:55) Thank you very much, indeed. Next question is from Gordon Rayner at The Telegraph. Gordon?

Gordon Rayner: (21:02)
Thank you, Secretary of State. You’ve stressed the need to break the chain of transmission of the new strain, and in other countries where a new strain is discovered, they’ve isolated the areas where they found them to stop it spreading. Why are we not doing that? And have you ruled out tighter restrictions in the areas where the South Africa variant has been identified, given that the vaccine is less effective against it? And just lastly, can I just ask the three of you, whether any of you have been vaccinated yet?

Matt Hancock: (21:34)
I haven’t been vaccinated yet, but I will get my jab as soon as it’s my turn, and I’m really looking forward to that. I’ll ask the other two as well. The answer to the question you have about the transmission of the new variant is, of course we’re always looking at what we need to do. There is already a national lockdown in place that says that you should not travel unless it’s absolutely necessary and that you should stay local, and we expect people to adhere to that everywhere. But in particular, in the postcodes that I’ve set out where people should stay at home, unless they absolutely have to leave, and anybody even thinking about stretching the rules in those areas must not.
(22:24)
Now, of course, further measures are always there, but we already have this very strong set of rules, indeed, very strong laws in place against people traveling unnecessarily, unless that travel is essential. So, what I’d say is that if you’re in one of the postcode areas that I set out, if you’re in an area where the new variant has been found, then stay at home and let’s get this new variant totally under control. Dr. Hopkins, over to you. Have you been jabbed yet?

Dr. Hopkins: (23:01)
I haven’t, because sadly I’m not doing very much frontline clinical work, more work in the department these days. But my husband, who is a frontline healthcare worker, has been.

Prof. Powis: (23:09)
No, I haven’t been vaccinated yet. I’m looking forward to it. Like Susan, I haven’t been doing frontline health care work, so I’m not at the front line. If I do start vaccinating, because I have volunteered to vaccinate, that would be one reason to get it. And otherwise, I’ll need to wait until my age band or we get to my age band in the priority groups. My wife may have been vaccinated because she was in one of the clinical trials, but we don’t know whether she got the vaccine or the control.

Matt Hancock: (23:42) Thanks very much, indeed. The next question is to Jane Merrick at The i. Jane?

Jane Merrick: (23:48)
Hello, thank you. Firstly, to Professor Hopkins. Does the geographical spread suggest the South African variant is endemic? And if the vaccines do need to be tweaked to improve effectiveness against it, will the 9.3 million people who’ve already had the vaccine or had a jab, be able to get a booster of the tweaked vaccine? Or will they have to restart the course, given that they are the most vulnerable in the country? And if I can ask you, Secretary of State, as a parent, you will understand that the benefits of children being in school are not only from learning, but the physical and mental health benefits of seeing friends, playing in the playground, which helps them sleep better and improve their motivation to do schoolwork. Do you think from a health perspective, there is an argument to reopen school playgrounds for play times only, earlier than the 8th of March, if it can be done safely with you do a bubble system in place, it’s outdoors, and if it’s primary schools? Thank you.

Matt Hancock: (24:47)
Well, thank you Jane. On that last question, before I hand over to Dr. Hopkins, what I’d say is we’ve taken these actions we’ve had to take with respect to schools. We’ve taken them with a very heavy heart and they are, as the Prime Minister said, the first measures that we will want to lift. But this virus is still absolutely widespread across the country. There are still over 34,000 people in hospital. And to put that into context, that’s 10,000 more than at the original peak. So, we still have a lot of work to do together to get this under control. And of course I understand the implications of the lockdown, but we’ve also seen just the terrible devastation that’s caused by the virus being too widespread, and I’m very glad to say that it does appear to be coming down in terms of the case load. On the first question, I’ll pass over to Dr. Hopkins.

Dr. Hopkins: (25:58)
I think the first thing I would say is that these cases do not appear to link to the moment. I think they’re in quite separate parts of the country and they’re more likely to be related to somebody who potentially had asymptomatic infection when they came in from abroad. We are looking to find extra cases in the community to see where we can find links, and to try and close down and eliminate the transmission between people.
(26:24)
I think it’s really important to also add that with the R value just below 1 as it is in the vast majority of the country, that we can reduce these cases of the new variant. And along with additional testing and people taking even more control than they are normally, then this will all help us do that.
(26:45)
In terms of the tweaked vaccine, we’re already working and looking at that. Looking at what mutations are particularly common that might be important to be put into a tweaked vaccine. It is unlikely that people would have to start again. Much more likely that it would be a booster shot, a bit like the annual flu vaccine.

Matt Hancock: (27:02) Thanks very much, Jane.
Dr. Hopkins: (27:03) A bit like the annual flu vaccine.
Matt Hancock: (27:03) Thanks very much, Jane. Our final up question is from Jonathan Walker from the Birmingham Mail and Newcastle Chronicle.

Jonathan Walker: (27:12)
Hello, [inaudible 00:27:12]. The north of England appears to be doing well in terms of rolling out the vaccine. You’ll know there have been suggestions that areas that have been fastest in getting people vaccinated will have supplies cut to help other areas catch up, but can you tell us if that is the case? And are you able to tell us what portion of England’s supply of vaccines is due to go to the north east in February and March? And also, if I may, I’d like to ask Dr. Hopkins or Professor Powers about the South African variant. As far as we know, is it more infectious than other variants? Is it likely to cause serious illness? How concerned should people living in the areas identified today be about their own health and welfare?

Matt Hancock: (27:55)
Thanks, Jonathan. I’m very grateful that you’re asking this question because I want to put to bed a myth that has been circulating in some cases online about the fair share of vaccines. The north east is getting its fascia vaccine. Birmingham in the midlands is getting its fair share of the vaccine. The north west is getting its fair share of the vaccine and we’re making sure that the vaccine goes to all parts of the country. In fact, all parts of the whole country, including all of the devolved areas and making sure that that happens on a fair basis according to need.
(28:32)
Now, the north of England has done absolutely brilliantly in the vaccine rollout. The north east was the fastest out of the blocks. The north west is going great guns too. And I’m really, really grateful to everybody who is working so hard. There is, as you know, a bumpy supply schedule for the whole country. And if you look on coronavirus.data.gov. uk, and click on the link to vaccinations, you can see that across the country there are some days when we do, like Saturday, over half a million vaccines. There are other days when we do 200, 300,000 vaccines, this is according to supply across the country as a whole.
(29:19)
And so, if your area has a few days where supply is lower than it has been, then that is because of the supply available nationally. And our goal is to get the supply in and then out as quickly as feasibly possible. I think the NHS are doing a brilliant job of that. And I think they’re doing a brilliant job of it in Newcastle and making sure that people get protected. And we’ve got to make sure that there are a fair shares everywhere, and we will do that. On the second question, I think that was definitely a question for you, Dr. Hopkins.

Dr. Hopkins: (29:53)
Thank you. So on the South African variant, we know that it’s similar in transmissibility to the variant that we’re seeing now almost endemic in the UK. Pretty much everywhere, we’re seeing the variant that first arose in Kent. So we want to reduce the transmission of it by the same measures that we have in place.
(30:10)
We do not have evidence that it’s causing more severe disease than the variants that are circulating in the UK. But what do we know is that it’s got slightly more mutations, some more mutations in the parts of the protein, the spike protein, that is causing it perhaps to have the diminished effectiveness to the vaccine, but still very good. And we want to prevent that spreading because what we want to do is to prevent viruses with mutations being able to acquire more mutations, which they will do over time. So everything we can do to reduce the spread of this variant, to detect cases with it and break the chains of transmission are essential.

Matt Hancock: (30:47)
Thanks very much, Jonathan. I just want to add one thing to that, which is that for 40 years, we’ve had the flu vaccination program, and every year the flu jab is updated to make sure that it is as effective as possible against new variants. So this is a standard part of what the NHS does every autumn to protect us against the flu. And I hope through this vaccination program, and then through the work that we’re doing with the vaccines manufacturers and the scientists, we’ll be able to get the coronavirus jab to the same place, that it’s something that people have as standard.
(31:32)
Doing that does mean building that manufacturing capability onshore, which is part of the task that’s underway right now. It also means getting the science right, exactly as Dr. Hopkins has set out. That is the goal here. There’s an awful lot of work to do. But in the meantime, the vaccination program is rolling out well. And when the call comes, please take the jab. And for everyone, let’s keep this under control by staying at home wherever possible, and following hands, face, space because the basics are critical and everybody has got a role to play. Thanks very much indeed. See you soon.