Concerns raised over vaccination availability for medical students

Welsh Conservatives are today (January 5) calling for clarification from the Education Minister following reports from concerned medical students over the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Sources have told Welsh Conservatives that students – including those on medical, occupational therapy, and speech and language placements within hospitals – will not be vaccinated as their qualified colleagues will be, despite working alongside them with Covid 19-positive patients.

Suzy Davies MS, the Shadow Minister for Education, said:

“At a time when the NHS workforce is under such strain, we all know that students will be stepping up to the plate and deserve adequate protection to do so. However, while their safety is of paramount importance, so too is that of the patients in their care.

“These medical and other students must receive the protection we all hope the vaccine will provide to protect those they are working with and for, so it is critical that they should receive the vaccine.”

Mrs Davies – who is writing to the Education Minister on this subject – concluded:

“All the hard, frontline work that these students will be doing could easily be overturned if they themselves become unvaccinated vectors for transmission of this awful virus.”