South Wales east Senedd member Delyth Jewell continues to strike out against big pharma greed.

In the Senedd plenary which tool place Tuesday last week (December 14) she took to the floor to criticise the UK government on failing to stand up to pharmaceutical companies - even going so far as to say that the UK is shamefully worse on this policy area than the USA.

She said: "Boris Johnson has told people living in the UK that two vaccines are no longer enough to protect against the omicron variant. In Africa, 70 per cent of front-line health workers haven’t had one dose."

Ms Jewell added: "That is in large part because of the intransigence of governments like the UK and Switzerland, blocking attempts to waive patents on vaccines, when even the President of big pharma-friendly USA, Joe Biden, is in favour of a waiver. Do you believe it’s the case, First Minister, that the UK government’s policy of blocking this attempt to vaccinate the world not only cruelly and unnecessarily endangers lives abroad, but also puts lives in danger here in the UK from dangerous variants that are likely to develop in countries less able to obtain vaccines?"

First minister Mark Drakeford agreed Ms Jewell’s assertion that corporate profits and greed cannot be allowed to get in the way of vaccinating people in all countries.

He said: "I entirely agree with the substantive point that Delyth Jewell is making. None of us is safe until all of us are safe. And that’s the case for making sure that rich countries like the United Kingdom play our part in assisting the rest of the world. It isn’t simply a matter of generosity, it is a matter of enlightened self interest. Until we can get the rest of the world in that position, then somewhere in the world another variant will be brewing and, next time, we might not be so fortunate that the defences we’ve built up so far will be as effective in responding to that variant as we’ve been able to mobilise defences against the alpha variant, the delta variant and now the next great effort to deal with the omicron variant. The whole of the world needs to be protected in order that each one of us can be protected."

During the debate, Ms Jewell also raised concerns about the accuracy and clarity of UK government guidance. She specifically referred to an address made by Boris Johnson broadcasting on Welsh TV screens saying that everyone would receive a third vaccination by the end of the year. At the time, this only applied to England.

She said: "This isn’t the first time for the prime minister to have made a statement broadcast on Welsh TV screens that was not relevant to us. The one in May was much worse, when Mr Johnson announced that the advice had changed from stay at home to a slogan that was far more ambiguous. This announcement didn’t apply in Wales. The advice here was that we should continue to stay at home, but there was no explanation at the time that the announcement was not relevant to Wales."

She added: "We need changes in broadcasting rules to prevent inaccurate information being broadcast here and causing confusion, if not risks. I’m pleased that the co-operation agreement between Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Government includes a commitment to consider establishing a shadow broadcasting and communications authority for Wales, as this body could recommend such a change."