NI politician Jim Wells locked out of wife’s care home says vaccines gives hope of ‘light at the end of the tunnel’

South Down MLA Jim Wells, who has been unable to spend time with his wife due to the restrictions on visiting at the home where she lives, has been going to see her each day since March to speak with her through the downstairs window of the home.

Speaking to the News Letter, the veteran DUP member spoke of his worry about the toll the restrictions have taken on his spouse having been isolated from her family.

Mr Wells said that while there are “complex moral issues” relating to some of the vaccines over the use of cells derived from human tissue from an unborn child several decades ago, he is hopeful the vaccines will ultimately save lives and enable something of a return to normality for those “locked up” in care homes.

“I’m still not allowed into the home,” he said. “I am hoping this vaccine will help and that, eventually once everyone’s immune, there will be no risk of anyone coming in.”

He continued: “The care home staff and workers are first on the list, as it were, so I’m hoping the situation will resolve itself.

“It’s been absolutely awful. We’ve been locked out from Grace now for 264 days.

“It’s grim but at least there’s some light at the end of the tunnel.

“I’m hopeful that it’s not going to go on too much longer. Grace has missed every family birthday - all nine of them. She’s missed the birth of her fifth grandchild and every other important event - funerals, marriages, everything - since March the 20th when we were locked out.”

“It’s been grim and she’s not in great form about it. Sometimes the walk back from the window is a lonely one, a dark, miserable one. This week’s been very bad.

“They’re still letting me do that - shout at the window - but in terms of letting me in, no.

“Grace is physically fine, but I’m really worried about what state she’s going to be in at the end of all this. It’s been very, very uncomfortable, very unfortunate and for such a long time. I just despair at times.”

On the vaccines, Mr Wells admitted to having “mixed views” due to certain ethical considerations that have been raised.

He pointed to information produced by organisations such as pro-life group Precious Life and the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, which outlines how some of the vaccines has been developed using tissue which may have ultimately derived from an aborted foetus.

“It is a complex moral question,” he said. “On the one hand you have those concerns around abortion but then you have something which is going to save lives.

“I personally will wait until there is a vaccine which has not been developed using tissue from an aborted foetus. I will wait for a synthetic version, which is likely to be available by the time I’m offered the vaccine anyway.”