Dr Williams was a GP and continued to see patients while he was an MP. After being voted out in 2019 he has worked at North Tees Hospital.
He is standing for Labour in the Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner elections in May.
Writing on Twitter he said: "Some local patients have turned down an offer this weekend of getting a Covid vaccine when they found out it was the Pfizer one. 'I'll wait for the English one'.
"People at risk of death in the depths of a pandemic. A lesson that Nationalism has consequences."
Dr Simon Stockley from Eaglescliffe Medical Practice in Stockton was asked about Dr Williams' tweet and told BBC Radio Tees: "I can well understand that people are trying to make a decision as to whether one is better than another and I don't think there's any evidence that allows you to make that distinction.
"The best vaccine as far as I can work out is the one that can be put into your arm soonest. If you are being offered the Pfizer vaccine now, waiting for something else to come along that is describably better seems perverse."
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has previously said the Pfizer vaccine was "a tribute to scientific endeavour and human ingenuity and to the hard work of so many people".
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said getting the jab was "good for you and good for the whole country".
BORIS Johnson has vowed to deliver hundreds of thousands of Covid vaccines a day by next week - and has promised every care home resident will get a jab this month.
The PM said that by next Friday, January 15, the rollout of the vaccine would be hugely ramped up, as he revealed that nearly 1.5million had been given their first dose so far.
Boris Johnson is giving a press conference to the nationCredit: AFP or licensors
Putting Britain on a war-footing in his new strategy to defeat the virus with "battle preparation techniques to help us keep up the pace" the PM laid out his plan for how to get there.
A new national booking service for people to be vaccinated will also be unveiled - and no one will have to travel more than ten miles to get one, the PM added.
Speaking at a press conference tonight, he announced that GP-led vaccine sites providing jabs will increase to over 1,000 by the end of next week, and promised hundreds of thousands of doses every day.
And he insisted he had "no doubt" that there would be enough supply to offer everyone in the top four vulnerable groups a vaccine by his February 15 deadline.
He added: "We are in a race against time, but I can assure you we are doing everything we can to vaccinate as many people as we can across the whole of the UK."
A fuller plan will be published on Monday - along with the first day of the daily vaccine figures.
NHS boss Simon Stevens said the bulk of the jabs will be through GPs offering it to local patients, but people will also be able to get them through hospital hubs, and mass vaccination centres working 7 days a week.
He noted that the Israelis had chosen to do more vaccinations through larger sites - which is partly why they had given out more doses to their population so far.
Mr Stevens also warned that the number of people in hospital was now 50 per cent higher than the first wave, as he begged Brits to stick to the rules and was "vital we all do take the steps necessary to control the growth of infection".
Brigadier Phil Prosser - appearing alongside the PM - told how top military battlefield planners to force a dramatic hike in Brits receiving the jab in the coming weeks.
He said the strategy was "unparalleled in its scale and complexity" - even after his previous work in war zones in the past.
He said: "We aim to deliver vaccinations as soon after it is supplied as possible, not leaving vast supplies in the warehouse.
"In arms, not on shelves."
21 rapid teams are also on hand to deliver vaccines quickly, if needed.
MoD top brass have been ordered to come up with plans for even distribution of the jab for all those that need it within the PM’s target of vaccinating the most vulnerable by mid-February.
Government insiders insisted that the deployment was military planners rather than troops at this stage.
The UK was the first in the world to authorise a vaccine and 17,500 people have this week joined The Sun’s Jabs Army crusade — but the nation has fallen behind Israel and Bahrain in rolling out the injections.
Despairing docs have been unable to act after their promised doses were repeatedly cancelled in some areas.
And pharmacies say their offer to help has been “ignored”.
And Public Health England admitted it is not even delivering vaccines to hospitals on Sundays.
Lib Dem health chief Munira Wilson told the Commons yesterday: “We are in a race against time to save lives, save jobs and restore our freedoms.
"Which is why we need a 24/7 programme bringing vaccinations to every high street in the country.”
Yesterday’s daily death toll hit 1,041 with 62,322 more cases — taking the totals to 77,346 and 2,836,801.
Deaths are likely to rise further as people who caught the virus over the festive season fail to recover.
Yesterday, the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies said its 11,000 branches could inoculate millions but are not being used.
So far, only those able to vaccinate 1,000 people a week have been enlisted.
Prof Martin Marshall, of the Royal College of GPs, added: “We need to be delivering upwards of two million vaccinations a week. This is a challenging but necessary target.
“Last-minute changes to delivery schedules, as some GPs are reporting, only create confusion among patients and a lot of hard work for practices that need to swiftly adapt their plans, and must be minimised.”
Vulnerable Brits will be able to get the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab from nearly 800 GPs sites from today.
So far it has only been delivered at hospitals. Another 300,000 doses are arriving tomorrow, taking the total sent out this week to 830,000.
Seven vaccination hubs will launch across the UK from next week
Drive-through vaccination centres will also be made available in the car parks of some Morrisons supermarkets from Monday.
Meanwhile, GPs will be told to prioritise Covid vaccinations over other treatments.
The PM has set a target of vaccinating up to 13 million of the most vulnerable Brits by the middle of February in a bid to ease the draconian lockdown restrictions.
Meanwhile, retired medics volunteering to help have been hit by paperwork.
Dr Fox fumed: “Why have I been required to complete courses on conflict resolution, equality, diversity and human rights, moving and handling loads and preventing radicalisation in order to give a simple jab?”
TV’s Dr Rosemary Leonard, who works as a GP, said vaccine orders have been repeatedly cancelled.
She tweeted: “My group of practices was initially told we would get our first delivery on December 28. Then January 4. Then January 11.
"Now we are ‘Sixth wave’ and it will be the 13th, 14th or 15th January. We are raring to go, but have no vaccines. Why?”
It is hoped 13m Brits in the top four categories will be vaccinated by mid-February
The NHS needs to reach two million people a week to reach the PM's goal, but only 300,000 are currently being given out at the moment.
So far, more than 1.3 million people have been vaccinated across the UK, including around a quarter of all over 80s.
A source said it would take some days before the NHS was delivering jabs in “big numbers”.
A Government spokesman said: “This is the largest vaccination programme in NHS history with complex logistical challenges.
"It is being accelerated every day and vaccinations will be taking place at over 1,000 sites by the end of this week.”
Matt Hancock says we will need to see impact of vaccinating priority groups on number of deaths before restrictions are lifted
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has predicted England's latest national lockdown will be the last full shutdown of the COVID crisis - but suggested Britons might need to be re-vaccinated every six to 12 months.
The government is aiming to offer a first dose of a COVID vaccine to nearly 14 million of the most vulnerable people over the next five-and-a-half weeks, during a period when England will continue with its third national lockdown.
However, appearing before the House of Commons health committee on Thursday, Mr Hancock admitted there was uncertainty over how long immunity from vaccines would last.
"I anticipate we will probably need to revaccinate because we don't know the longevity of the protection from these vaccines," he told MPs.
"We don't know how frequently it will be, but it might need to be every six months, it might need to be every year."
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Mr Hancock also predicted that vaccines and coronavirus testing would still be part of life during 2022.
"There is absolutely no doubt that vaccines and testing will still be a feature next year," he added.
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"We will need both the surveillance testing to be able to understand where the virus is and we will need testing for people who have symptoms, in the same way that you get tested for all sorts of other things."
But, asked if he thought the current lockdown in England, which began on Monday night, would be the last one, Mr Hancock replied: "I do, yes."
By 15 February, the government is aiming to offer a vaccine to the top four priority groups, as decided by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
These include older care home residents and staff, everyone over 70, all frontline NHS and care staff, and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable.
Image:England entered its third national lockdown on Monday night
Mr Hancock told MPs that he hoped frontline health workers would be offered a vaccine even "sooner" than the middle of next month.
If a COVID-19 vaccine requires adjustments to fight new variants of the virus, Mr Hancock said it may not need to go through the usual full trials process that a new vaccine needs.
"As with the flu vaccine each year, for a type of vaccine that has been clinically trialled and approved, if you make small adjustments to it, then it may not need the full year-long trials process that a new vaccine needs," he said at the committee hearing.
"The way I have described it, is if you are lucky to have Range Rover and you get a new wing mirror stuck on it, it's still a Range Rover and should be classified as such."
Snow showers and freezing fog are forecast to sweep the UK over the next few days.
The Met Office has issued yellow weather warnings for snow and ice covering almost all of the UK throughout Thursday and Friday.
Warnings for snow and ice likely to cause slippery surfaces and travel disruption until midnight on Wednesday are in place for Scotland, and for Northern Ireland the same warning is in place until 9am on Thursday morning.
Image:Only a small portion of central southern areas are without the warnings
From Thursday afternoon until Friday morning, a yellow warning for ice covers the north and the entire east and west coasts of England and Wales, with only a small portion of central southern areas free from warnings.
The Environment Agency has also issued four flood warnings for areas where flooding is likely, on the Isle of Sheppey, Kings Lynn, Peterborough, and by the River Derwent in North Yorkshire.
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Some 30 alerts, for areas where flooding is possible, are also scattered across England.
There were no high water warnings in place for Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland on Wednesday night.
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Image:The Met Office warn to look out for freezing fog and ice first thing in the morning
Snowfall is expected in the northern half of Scotland on Thursday, with 1-2cm depth covering lowland areas, and up to 10cm expected to fall in areas higher than 300m above sea level.
Met Office meteorologist Clare Nasir said this wintry weather will be brought on by a "bank of rain which readily turns to snow" moving from Scotland and Northern Ireland in the early hours of Thursday, to England and Wales as the day progresses.
Freezing temperatures ranging from 0C in London to -10C in the valleys in Wales are predicted overnight, picking up to between 2-5C for most places in the UK in the daytime.
Ms Nasir said: "Watch out for some freezing fog patches (and) the risk of ice first thing.
"However, through the morning, we will see some brighter skies for southern parts of England and Wales."
Ambulance services have urged people to plan their journeys ahead of setting off and to wrap up warm to ease pressures on emergency services.
The risk of icy weather and wintry showers is set to persist through Friday, with cloudier and milder weather moving in from the north and patches of sun across the country.
A yellow weather warning for snow is in place for north-east Scotland from midnight on Thursday until midday on Friday, and an ice warning covers Wales and much of England with the exception of some central and southern areas until 11am on Friday.
Birmingham could be left without Covid-19 vaccines as stocks run low and with the city yet to receive the Oxford jab, local leaders say.
Labour and Conservative politicians say doses of the Pfizer vaccine are due to run out on Friday with "no clarity" over when further supplies will arrive.
Writing to Health Secretary Matt Hancock, the Birmingham leaders criticised communication around the vaccination programme in the city.
"We acknowledge that the vaccination rollout is in its early days, but we have also learned today that Birmingham has not yet been supplied with any AstraZeneca stock, while current Pfizer stocks are scheduled to run out on Friday this week with currently no clarity on when further supplies will arrive."
They added "it remains unclear who is responsible for overseeing the vaccination programme in Birmingham, and whom we should hold accountable for progress and delivery".
The letter is signed by Labour leader of Birmingham City Council, Ian Ward, Liam Byrne MP, Labour's candidate for the West Midlands mayor, and by Conservative MP and ex-minister, Andrew Mitchell.
Here's the cross-party letter with @BrumLeader & Brum MP's setting out the urgent information we need to get a grip of the vaccination plan in Birmingham
Noone knows who's in charge of the programme. There's no AZ vaccines in the 2nd City (Though we're just an hr from Oxford) pic.twitter.com/BiVfHdErEE
The BBC has approached the Department of Health and NHS England for comment.
Birmingham is home to 1.1 million people and some areas there have recorded a 77.6% rise in total coronavirus cases in the past week, according to government data.
Elsewhere, Gillian McLauchlan, deputy director of public health at Salford Council, described "teething" issues with the vaccine rollout there.
She told councillors at a local scrutiny committee: "We have no control over vaccine supplies. We are told literally two days in advance 'your next lot of vaccines are coming'."
England's vaccination programme is described as the biggest in NHS history, with an aim to offer jabs to most care home residents by the end of January and the most vulnerable by mid-February.
Officials leading the vaccination programme are adamant rollout is going to plan - and are cautioning against judging performance too early.
Of course, there will be teething problems, but the fact remains the UK has vaccinated more per head of population than any other country apart from Israel and Bahrain.
While rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine started on Monday, it was actually only being used at the hospital hubs up to Thursday.
Deliveries are now being made to hundreds of local vaccination centres. There are 17 in the Birmingham region so they should start to receive doses imminently.
That should mean there is a vaccine available if they do run out of the Pfizer-BioNTech jab.
Although disruption to the rollout of the programme in the city may still happen as local centres are warning they cannot book patients in until they know they have stock available.
But the fact the city's leaders felt compelled to write to the health secretary to warn about this is an illustration of the pressure in the system at the moment.
Given the high level of infections and current lockdown, there is a desperation in all quarters to get the most at-risk vaccinated as quickly as possible.
And until the nation sees that translate into significant numbers of people getting vaccinated - 2 million a week is the goal - people will remain on edge.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was approved for emergency use on 2 December but requires specialist storage unsuitable for most GP practices, with doses largely delivered in hospitals.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca jab was approved on 30 December and does not require specialist storage. It was first rolled out on Monday to hospitals and to GPs in England from Thursday.
Mr Hancock visited a GP surgery in London to promote the roll out earlier - but staff there said delivery of the Oxford vaccine had been delayed.
The health secretary said he was "delighted" care home residents would begin receiving their first Oxford jabs from GPs this week.
"This will ensure the most vulnerable are protected and will save tens of thousands of lives," he said.
GP Ammara Hughes, a partner at Bloomsbury Surgery, told broadcasters its first delivery of the Oxford jab had been pushed back 24 hours to Thursday.
She said: "It's just more frustrating than a concern because we've got the capacity to vaccinate. And if we had a regular supply - we do have the capacity to vaccinate three to four thousand patients a week."
Mr Hancock described supply of vaccine as a "rate-limiting" step.
He said: "For the first three days with the Oxford vaccine we did it in hospitals to check that it was working well and it's working well so now we can make sure that it gets to all those GP surgeries that like this one can do all the vaccinations that are needed.
"The rate-limiting step is the supply of vaccine. We're working with the companies - both Pfizer and AstraZeneca - to increase the supply."
Another 180 GP-led sites, 100 new hospital sites and a pilot scheme involving local pharmacies will open this week.
Meanwhile, nearly 19,981 second doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab - which was the first to be approved for emergency use in the UK last month - were administered between 29 December and 3 January, NHS England said.
It came as Rupert Pearse, professor of intensive care medicine and a consultant at the Royal London, said his own intensive care staff are having to care for far more sick patients.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there would usually be a ratio of one fully-trained intensive care nurse for each patient in a unit but staff are becoming increasingly stretched.
"Right now we are diluting down to one [intensive care] nurse to three [patients] and filling those gaps with untrained staff and in some instances doctors helping nurses deliver their care... and we're even facing diluting that further to one in four," he said.
All of the UK is now under strict virus curbs, with Wales, Northern Ireland and most of Scotland also in lockdown, and vaccinations are progressing across the devolved nations.
On Wednesday evening, President Trump later called on his supporters to "go home", while continuing to make false claims of electoral fraud. Twitter and Facebook later froze his accounts.
The president has now said there will be an "orderly transition" to Democrat Joe Biden, whose November election victory has now been certified by US lawmakers.
But he added that he continued to "totally disagree" with the outcome of the vote, repeating his unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud.
'Awful beyond words'
Hundreds of the president's supporters stormed the Capitol - where lawmakers were meeting to confirm Mr Biden's election victory - and staged an occupation of the building in Washington DC.
Both chambers of Congress were forced into recess, as protesters clashed with police and tear gas was released.
Ms Patel told BBC Breakfast the scenes were "awful beyond words".
The home secretary said: "His comments directly led to the violence, and so far he has failed to condemn that violence and that is completely wrong."
She added: "He basically has made a number of comments yesterday that helped to fuel that violence and he didn't actually do anything to de-escalate that whatsoever... what we've seen is completely unacceptable."
A woman died after being shot by police, and three others died as a result of "medical emergencies", local police said.
Politicians across the UK's political parties lined up to condemn the scenes in Washington.
Speaking on Thursday, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Trump should "take responsibility" for what happened, calling it the "culmination of years of the politics of hate and division".
Sir Keir added he welcomed the outgoing president's agreement to an orderly handover, but told reporters "he should have said it a long time ago."
'Rule of the mob'
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Mr Trump had been "inciting insurrection in his own country," and called it a "dark period" in US history.
"What we witnessed last night is not that surprising. In some senses, Donald Trump's presidency has been moving towards this moment almost from the moment it started," she told ITV's Good Morning Britain.
Scotland's Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said the home secretary should "give serious consideration" to denying Mr Trump entry to the UK after he leaves office.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said certification of Mr Biden's victory was "good to see" after the "shocking events" on Wednesday, adding the UK condemned the violence "unequivocally".
Former Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May, who shared time in office with Mr Trump, said there should be "no place for the rule of the mob".
Mr Davies, a member of the Welsh Parliament, later tweeted that "violence must never be tolerated".
His party colleague, the Conservative MP Simon Hoare, suggested Mr Trump could be sent to the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay:
I think @realDonaldTrump had a chant for it a few years ago. After yesterday let the call of the American Nation be: LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP! He has incited insurrection. Not sure there’s a golf course at Guantanamo but that’s where he should be headed
Friend of President Trump and leader of Reform UK - formerly the Brexit Party - Nigel Farage tweeted: "Storming Capitol Hill is wrong. The protesters must leave."
Meanwhile, Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey has defended the prime minister's response to the rioting.
Asked on ITV's Peston programme why Mr Johnson hadn't criticised Mr Trump, she said: "The prime minister has been clear tonight that we need a peaceful and orderly transition."
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has written to express his "solidarity" with US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose empty office was broken into by protesters.
"Seeing your office trashed in that way and its occupation by one of the rioters was particularly outrageous. I am just so relieved you were not hurt," he wrote.
EPA
It is a truism of British diplomacy that every occupant of 10 Downing Street has to get on with every occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, regardless of their politics or character.
Personal consideration is pushed aside. What matters is the national interest and staying close to one of Britain's closest allies.
Thus even now, even after Donald Trump's incitement of the Capitol mob, even though there are less than two weeks until the inauguration, even as close Republican allies jump ship, Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab were reluctant to criticise the president by name in their initial response overnight.
Yes, they condemned the violence. But of Mr Trump, not a word. This caution was matched by the Prime Ministers of fellow so-called Five Eyes intelligence allies, Australia and New Zealand, both of whom also both failed to mention Mr Trump in their condemnatory tweets.
In contrast, European leaders were quick to blame the president personally.
It was only this morning that a British minister, Home Secretary Priti Patel, felt able to follow suit in strong terms.
So was this natural and sensible diplomatic caution in the midst of a febrile crisis?
Or was this, as some Labour figures are already claiming, a function of the closeness between the current UK government and the Trump administration?
Whatever one's views, it is certainly the case that the British government is seen on the international stage by some has having ideological proximity to Mr Trump.
Changing that reputation is seen by many diplomats as a priority in the months ahead, a task made more urgent by events overnight.
