Coronavirus vaccine: More than 150,000 now vaccinated in Wales

More than 150,000 people have now received a coronavirus vaccine in Wales, Welsh Government has confirmed.

As of 10pm on Sunday, January 17, 151,737 people had been vaccinated in Wales.

This equates to around 5% of the population.

What are the vaccines?

The UK Government has procured vaccines on behalf of the four nations and around 100m of these are of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, with Wales receiving its allocation based on population over the next weeks and months. Two doses will be needed, with an interval of between four and 12 weeks between doses.

At the beginning of December, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was the first to receive MHRA approval in the UK. Forty million doses of the vaccine have been made available for delivery across the UK.

Based on a UK-wide priority system, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has already begun to be administered to frontline health and social care staff, as well as care home residents and staff and people aged over 80. Latest figures show that in the first three weeks, 35,000 people were vaccinated.

Unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is stored at normal vaccine fridge temperatures. This means it will have few storage and transportation issues, making it much easier to use in community settings such as care homes and primary care settings like GP surgeries.

Welsh Government has said it is expecting a “significant increase” in Oxford-Astra Zeneca vaccines from this week.

Welsh Government is aiming to vaccinate everyone over the age of 70, as well as all frontline health and care workers and care home residents, by the middle of next month. It has said it’s on target to achieve this.

Frontline health and social care workers, care home residents and people aged 80 and above have already started to receive their vaccines.

Vaccination centres

A mass coronavirus vaccination centre opened at Caerphilly County Borough Council’s headquarters in Tredomen earlier this month.

It is one of 45 mass vaccination centres across Wales, which have either opened or are set to open shortly.

Welsh Government has said 90% of these were open over the weekend, but as supply of the vaccine increases, “more will be open for longer and seven days per week”.

Welsh Government has also said it will be opening community vaccination centres offering the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. GPs, dentists and optometrists will be involved in these.

More than 100 GP practices are currently delivering vaccines. Welsh Government has said this will rise to 250 by the end of January.

A coronavirus vaccination plan, released by Welsh Government on January 11, says everyone aged 16 and over will have received a vaccine by the autumn.

People are asked not to phone their GP, pharmacy or hospital asking when they will get a vaccine. When someone is in one of the groups eligible for the vaccine, they will be invited to attend a dedicated clinic which will have been set up to ensure patient safety and that of the healthcare professionals.

Controversy over First Minister’s comments

First Minister Mark Drakeford has come under fire for his comments about the vaccine rollout in an interview with BBC Radio 4.

As of last week, Wales had used less than half of its 250,000 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.

However, Mr Drakeford told BBC Radio 4: “The thing that limits us at the moment is supply. We are using every bit of vaccine that we are getting”.

But while Wales is using all of its Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines, Mr Drakeford said the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine “has to last us until the beginning of February”, with the next delivery of the vaccine expected at the end of this month or beginning of next month.

He added: “Therefore, we have to use that over that six-week stretch. There would be no point I think, and certainly it would be logistically very damaging to try and use all of that in the first week, and then to have all our vaccinators standing around with nothing to do for another month.”

But in a series of tweets, Welsh Government said it’s “not holding back any vaccines”, adding: “Every dose wasted is a vaccine which cannot be given to someone in Wales. Less than 1% of the vaccines have not been used. This is way below the wastage rates normally seen for vaccines.”

Vaccine Q&A: Government targets announced

Welsh Government