Health Secretary Matt Hancock was full of smiles this morning as he was on-hand to answer the probes of Good Morning Britain’s hosting duo, Sean Fletcher and Charlotte Hawkins after the news emerged a second vaccine would be rolled-out imminently across the UK. With the pair full of questions for Mr Hancock, Fletcher reminded the guest later on in the interview he had previously “ignored” him when he had been involved in a campaign surrounding children’s mental health, which the Health Secretary quickly denied.
This morning, it was revealed the Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccine had been approved by the UK Government.
The news was met with relief from those all across the UK as the Health Secretary promised on BBC Breakfast: “I can now say with confidence, we can vaccinate everyone.”
Later on, Mr Hancock joined hosts Charlotte Hawkins and Sean Fletcher on Good Morning Britain to go over what this would mean in terms of the coronavirus crisis coming to an end.
Keen to cover every base, Fletcher probed Mr Hancock about the issue of declining mental health.
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After many people have now spent months apart from families and friends, Fletcher went on to accuse Mr Hancock of “ignoring” him on the issue in the past.
Fletcher asked the Health Secretary: “Mr Hancock, I’m just wondering where mental health comes into this?”
He went on to note how lockdowns and the recently-implemented tier systems had affected “a lot of people’s” mental health.
The host continued: “Dr Adrian James, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists says, ‘We are facing the biggest mental health crisis since the Second World War.’
Fletcher interjected: “No, you tweeted, ‘We need to do more,’ but you’re the Health Secretary, you need to do more.
“So what are you doing?” probed the host.
Mr Hancock responded: “Yeah, so we have been doing, absolutely, it’s a really, really important challenge.
“Firstly, the number of people who have been held in secure inpatient units, we have managed to significantly reduce over time, since we have had that discussion.”
The Health Secretary promised “more funding” was being put into supporting people in the community as well as into those struggling with anxiety and depression.
It came after Fletcher had probed the Health Secretary on why the vaccine wasn’t able to be rolled out straight away, instead of waiting until January 4.
Mr Hancock explained: “We have to spend a couple of days ensuring training is put in place, we have to physically put vaccine out into hospitals and GP centres… we’ve got to physically move it around.
“It’s really good news, we are getting going from Monday.”
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV.
Published at Wed, 30 Dec 2020 09:19:00 +0000
Matt Hancock blasted by GMB’s Sean Fletcher for ‘ignoring’ him ‘What are you doing?’
