Wales’ autumn vaccine booster campaign set to start next week

Wales’ coronavirus vaccination autumn booster campaign is set to begin next week, Health Minister Eluned Morgan has announced.

The announcement was made on Tuesday, September 14 after the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended the rollout of booster vaccines.

Among those who will be eligible for a booster vaccine will be everyone who was in priority groups 1-9 for the first vaccine rollout earlier this year.

This includes all adults aged 50 and older, frontline health and social care workers and those aged 16-49 with underlying health conditions.

It also includes people living in care homes for older adults, adult carers and adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals.

Health Minister Mrs Morgan said the use of booster vaccines is to “reduce any further incidence of Covid-19 and maximise protection in those who are most vulnerable to serious infection, ahead of the winter months”. 

In the advice, the JCVI recommended that everyone who was vaccinated in the first phase of the vaccination programme should be offered a third vaccine dose at least six months after their second vaccine dose.

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines will be used as boosters, regardless of which brand of vaccine somebody has already received.

However, as most younger adults received their second vaccine doses later in the summer, the benefits of booster vaccines within this group will be looked at by the JCVI at a later date, Mrs Morgan said.

The Health Minister also said there may be opportunities for both the Covid vaccine and the flu vaccine to be co-administered, if timings and logistics allow.

She continued: “We have been planning for an autumn booster with health boards over the summer months. I am confident our NHS is ready to deliver this and we will start next week by offering a booster vaccine to people living and working in care homes and frontline health and social care staff.

“It is important that those eligible under the JCVI advice receive a booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, when they are called for an appointment, as there is the possibility of reduced immunity of their previous doses over time. 

“The vaccine continues to be the best way to prevent serious illness and the spread of Covid-19 and every eligible adult is urged to take-up both doses when asked and a booster dose, if eligible.”

Who has been vaccinated so far?

The percentage of people in Wales who have received their first and second vaccine is broken down below:

Care home residents: 98.1% first dose; 95.7% second dose

Care home workers: 94% first dose; 91% second dose

Healthcare workers: 96.9% first dose; 94.9% second dose

Social care workers: 45,690 first dose; 45,022 second dose

Aged 80 and above: 96.2% first dose; 95.1% second dose

Aged 75-79: 96.9% first dose; 96.2% second dose

Aged 70-74: 96.3% first dose; 95.6% second dose

Clinically extremely vulnerable people aged 16-69 : 94.4% first dose; 92.1% second dose

Aged 65-69: 95.1% first dose; 94.2% second dose

Clinical risk groups aged 16 to 64: 90.4% first dose; 87% second dose

Aged 60-64: 93.5% first dose; 92.2% second dose

Aged 55-59: 91.8% first dose; 90.2% second dose

Aged 50-54: 89.9% first dose; 87.8% second dose

Aged 40-49: 84.9% first dose; 81.5% second dose

Aged 30-39: 77.9% first dose; 71.9% second dose

Aged 18-29: 77% first dose; 67.9% second dose

Aged 16-17: 68.5% first dose; 12.7% second dose

Source: Public Health Wales