As David Cameron’s Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell was a stalwart supporter of the work of GAVI (formerly the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) which promotes the use of first world vaccines in third world countries.
In 2011 he hosted a pledging conference in Downing Street and told the media: “Vaccinations are proof positive that well spent aid saves lives. The UK has worked hard to bring in new partners and get existing donors to increase the size of their contribution so that we can save more lives.”
In February this year during Prime Minister’s Questions he asked the Prime Minister for an undertaking that the UK Government will continue to pledge money in support of GAVI.
On the 17th March 2023 - as Andrew Bridgen stood up to make a speech in the House of Commons about vaccine harms - Mr Mitchell went hurrying around the chamber speaking to other MPs.
We don’t know what he said but at the time it was suggested by some that he was encouraging them to leave the chamber rather than listen to Mr Bridgen’s speech.
As someone over 65 Mr Mitchell was entitled to a free jab in the autumn of 2024 in accordance with JCVI guidance. In the light of all the above we had expected an enthusiastic ‘yes of course’ from him when we wrote to him on December 24th 2024 to ask whether he had taken up the offer. What we got was silence.
The other four MPs over the age of 65 we wrote to for this week’s episode were Clive Betts MP (Labour, Sheffield South East) Mary Glindon (Labour, Newscastle Upon Tyne East and Wallsend) Maureen Burke (Labour, Glasgow North East) and Martin Vickers (Conservative, Brigg and Immingham).
In February 2021 Mr Betts posted a picture of himself being injected with the caption: “Get the vaccine to protect yourself and help protect others.” There was no such enthusiasm from him in response to our letter. Again it was met with silence.
In December 2021 Martin Vickers and Mary Glindon both voted in favour of the vaccine pass bill which, for the first time in British history, saw people’s freedom of movement curtailed dependant on whether they had had a medical procedure.
Maureen Burke was not a member of Parliament at the time but neither she, Ms Glindon or Mr Vickers sent us a reply.
As the Spring vaccination campaign got underway this week we are still waiting for an MP who was eligible to confirm they took a jab in the Autumn.
Join us again next week for the next five MPs on our list.
MPs asked: 25
Positive responses: 0
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