Opinion: ‘Our route out of the pandemic is mass rapid testing and vaccination’

We haven’t reached the end of this year yet. I am mindful of my mother’s advice never to wish away time, but most of us will welcome the back of 2020.

COVID-19 is still with us and we are only halfway through a second lockdown, which I truly detest. However, I am naturally an optimist and I know there will be good times ahead.

Our route out of the pandemic is mass rapid testing and vaccination. That’s how we can end the restrictions on our daily lives.

And on both fronts, the UK has a good story to tell.

It’s hugely encouraging to have so many potential vaccines for COVID-19. We still don’t have a vaccine for malaria and HIV after decades of trying. Even successful trials can take years.

At Westminster, I sit on the Health and Social Care Select Committee. To hear from experts like Professor Sir John Bell that they are 90% certain life will return to something resembling normal in the Spring is fantastic.

We have the largest portfolio of potential vaccines per capita of any country in the world, thanks to our Vaccines Taskforce. There is enough contingency for the whole population and work on the logistical challenges of vaccinating so many people is well underway.

Rapid testing schemes are starting to be trialled. Peterborough is not yet on the list – perhaps due to our relatively low levels of infection – but it’s coming.

We now have the walk-in testing centre at the Gladstone Park Community Centre, which helps ensure that anyone who needs a test can get one.

The centre is part of a system that means the level of testing in the UK is incredibly high.

Other countries are looking to see how our Government succeeded – and to copy us. With all the noise surrounding the virus, many have missed this success.

There is that fabled ‘light at the end of the tunnel’, despite the frustration I feel right now. Nor should we forget that Peterborough is a City on the up.

The pandemic is tough for our businesses, but the structure of our local economy is strong. We have made decisions that are building up our chances for health, wealth and happiness in the future. A new university, much-needed regeneration and new police officers are all on their way.

This is our time to show how special Peterborough is and that our future will be even better.

The Government has stumped up £14 million for the university and nearly £23 million to kick-start the regeneration. The Council and the Police are in agreement about wanting a tough approach – something I call zero tolerance – on crime and anti-social behaviour. And we have new plans to clean up our City.

These things depend on the right partnerships with Peterborough City Council. All would be at risk if a coalition of chaos took over.

Imagine the extreme Labour Party in control, propped up by left-wing Lib Dems and Greens. Would you want to see regeneration be replaced by a woke crusade to rename Gladstone Street? Or people who chant ‘defund the police’ near the levers of power?

That’s not the future we want. Let’s take pride in Peterborough. By sticking together, we can beat this horrible virus and build back better.