On Wednesday 5 January, The Prime Minister made a statement on the current situation with Coronavirus and the Omicron variant.

In his statement the Prime Minister said that 90% of those patients in intensive care had not had their booster vaccination.

More alarming still was that 60% had not been vaccinated at all.

We must never forget that there are very good medical reasons why some people cannot have the vaccine.

These people are different from those who have been misled by information, usually from the internet and as a result are frightened or reluctant to get themselves vaccinated.

They need to be encouraged and persuaded to take up the free vaccination in order to keep themselves well and healthy and also so our emergency beds are available to everyone

We must try to do more to encourage those who are able to, to get vaccinated and crucially, stay out if hospital.

This can be achieved through better communication to those who are vaccine hesitant and better statistics will help paint a clearer picture of the risks they are taking.

We will also reduce the need for restrictions as people, most of whom have been so responsible, should be trusted with the facts and figures.

At the moment we get very broad figures from the news but ultimately we need detail and so do people who are hesitating.

That is why I raised this with the Prime Minister who reinforced the message that we should not stigmatise people for whom vaccination is not an option.

If you wish to watch my contribution you can do so here and read a transcript of the full debate here.

Note: Sir Bill Wiggin MP speaks at 16:41:17