Mayor says public 'misled' over Birmingham rollout

The West Midlands mayor has accused some local politicians of "misleading the public over the vaccine situation in Birmingham".

Writing to the government, a cross-party group of politicians said vaccine stocks were due to run out in the city on Friday and criticised communication.

Some 10,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine arrived on Thursday afternoon.

In a tweet, Mayor Andy Street said the idea the city would run out of vaccines on Friday was "completely false".

Writing before the latest delivery was confirmed, Conservative Mr Street said more of the Pfizer vaccine had been ordered and he had been assured the new Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine was on the way.

The original letter, sent to Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Thursday was signed by the Labour leader of the council, Ian Ward; Liam Byrne MP, Labour's candidate for the West Midlands mayor, and by Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell.

It said: "We acknowledge that the vaccination rollout is in its early days, but we have also learned today [Thursday] that Birmingham has not yet been supplied with any AstraZeneca stock, while current Pfizer stocks are scheduled to run out on Friday this week with currently no clarity on when further supplies will arrive."

They added "it remains unclear who is responsible for overseeing the vaccination programme in Birmingham, and whom we should hold accountable for progress and delivery".

Writing on Twitter, Mr Street said: "Misinformation that causes undue concern is not what the public need in the middle of a pandemic."

Sutton Coldfield MP Mr Mitchell defended raising concerns, saying it was the job of local MPs to "make sure that our constituents get vaccinated in a timely way and any bottleneck is addressed".

He said there was "anxiety" over vaccine supply in the city on Wednesday, but that following a conversation with Mr Hancock on Thursday evening it was clear the "immediate issues" had been addressed.

He said 10,000 doses of the new vaccine were delivered on Thursday and more would be arriving on Friday.

Mr Mitchell said the letter had been sent "in a bid to help the government to make sure that these vaccinations are delivered in a timely and in so far as we can, seamless way".

It also called for more information to be supplied to MPs across the country on a daily basis about the vaccine rollout.

City council leader Ian Ward said the information about the shortage had been revealed by health officials at a meeting he attended alongside 10 local MPs.

"I am pleased to say the health secretary understood our request," he said, referring to the letter.

"His prompt reply acknowledged that we raised a number of important points and he has now asked NHS England to provide us with all of the information needed to ensure people are aware when and how they can get vaccinated."

Mr Byrne denied the letter was "playing politics" and said it was important there was a better plan for the vaccine rollout in the city.

There were some cries of "playing politics" when the letter went public - with sources telling me there were angry calls behind the scenes over the idea that Birmingham could "run out" of vaccine before the weekend.

Mayor Andy Street says that simply was never true.

Of course briefings are complex and information is changing pretty much constantly at the moment.

The signatories to the letter - from both parties - say they were putting crucial questions to government.

How many jabs are being given in hospitals versus other settings? How many organisations are delivering them? How is the flow of vaccine supply into the second city going to work?

Labour's Liam Byrne has said no-one knows who is in charge. Conservative Andrew Mitchell said the letter was to help government with this mammoth task.

Now at least we know there is some of the Oxford vaccine in the city. But some GP hubs are telling us they still do not know when they will get it. There could be more lumps and bumps to come.

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