Agenda item

Motion - The NHS COVID-19 Vaccination Programme

Minutes:

Councillor Jeff Green moved and Councillor Lesley Rennie seconded a motion submitted in accordance with Standing Order 13.

 

In moving the motion, Councillor Jeff Green confirmed that he was happy to accept the Labour Group amendment, which was moved by Councillor Jo Bird, and seconded by Councillor Brian Kenny as follows:

 

‘Add at the beginning:

 

Wirral Council remembers one year ago, the first reported covid death on the Wirral on 23 March, 2020. We mourn over 950 Covid related deaths on the Wirral.

 

There have been over 900 excess deaths, more than average for last 5 years. We share the ongoing grief of bereaved families and friends on the Wirral and beyond.

 

We re-double our efforts to combat this deadly disease and its disproportionate impact on communities already suffering from poverty and discrimination. We recognise inequalities of life expectancy on the Wirral where people in Heswall can expect to live 12 years longer than people in Rock Ferry.

 

We also support vaccine equality across the world. As the World Health Organisation says, none of us will be safe until everyone is safe.

 

Add a new paragraph, after the penultimate paragraph:

 

Council also wishes to place on record our sincere thanks to all front-line workers (too many to mention here), who have placed their own health and lives in danger, to ensure that Wirral residents were able to live their lives as well as possible, under extremely difficult circumstances.

 

Having applied the guillotine in accordance with Standing Order 9.1, the Council did not debate this matter, and having agreed to the Labour amendment, the substantive motion, as amended, was put and it was –

 

Resolved (unanimously) –

 

Wirral Council remembers one year ago, the first reported covid death on the Wirral on 23 March, 2020. We mourn over 950 Covid related deaths on the Wirral.

 

There have been over 900 excess deaths, more than average for last 5 years. We share the ongoing grief of bereaved families and friends on the Wirral and beyond.

 

We re-double our efforts to combat this deadly disease and its disproportionate impact on communities already suffering from poverty and discrimination. We recognise inequalities of life expectancy on the Wirral where people in Heswall can expect to live 12 years longer than people in Rock Ferry.

 

We also support vaccine equality across the world. As the World Health Organisation says, none of us will be safe until everyone is safe.

 

Council recognises that, at the time of submission of the motion, 22,213,112 people have been vaccinated in the UK. In Wirral 128,633 residents have been vaccinated which includes all Wirral residents in Priority Groups 1-9 to be offered a vaccine. This covers the following residents:

 

1.  Residents in a care home for older adults and staff working in care homes for older adults.

2.  All those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers.

3.  All those 75 years of age and over.

4.  All those 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals.

5.  All those 65 years of age and over.

6.  Adults aged 16 to 65 years in an at-risk group.

7.  All those 60 years of age and over.

8.  All those 55 years of age and over.

9.  All those 50 years of age and over.

 

Council wishes to commend the people of Wirral for their steadfastness and compliance with the rules around the use of face coverings, regular handwashing and maintaining social distancing coupled with working from home, when possible. We all recognise the huge impacts and difficulties this will have had and commit to supporting action on the consequential impacts on residents’ mental health that the pandemic will have caused.

 

As Wirral follows the Roadmap and lockdown is cautiously eased, Council encourages Wirral residents to continue to follow the hands, face, space guidance, adhere to national guidance and reject the spurious anti-vaccine propaganda. Council encourages any Wirral resident who has not taken up their opportunity to be vaccinated to do so.


Council wishes to place on record its sincerest thanks to the scientists (publicly and privately funded), pharmaceutical companies, procurement professionals, GPs, healthcare professionals, Council staff and volunteers who have made this miracle a reality by ensuring the success of the vaccination programme here in Wirral.

 

Council also wishes to place on record our sincere thanks to all front-line workers (too many to mention here), who have placed their own health and lives in danger, to ensure that Wirral residents were able to live their lives as well as possible, under extremely difficult circumstances.


Council therefore requests the Leader of the Council to write to Wirral Council’s Chief Executive and the Chair of Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group thanking them and their staff, on behalf of the Council, for this heroic effort.