Welsh Government taking steps to boost vaccine uptake across Wales

A simplified booking system and digital vaccination records are among the changes set out in a new plan to boost vaccine uptake across Wales.

The National Immunisation Framework for Wales, which has been published by Wales’ Health minister Eluned Morgan, follows on from the Covid jab rollout and aims to improve access to and the supply of vaccines.

The plan aims making it easier to people to know what vaccinations they are eligible for and how to receive them.

It also takes into account different vaccines being given during the same appointment, such as Covid and flu jabs – which are being administered during the same appointment as part of the Welsh Government’s autumn Covid booster rollout and flu jab programme.

Mrs Morgan said: “We want as many people as possible to come forward for their vaccinations – from the routine childhood vaccines to the free NHS winter flu jab. Vaccines save lives and help to keep us all safe.

“But to do this we need to make sure vaccines are easily available. People’s response to the Covid-19 vaccination programme has been phenomenal, showing a real collective effort to keep Wales safe.

“This ambitious National Immunisation Framework builds on the success of that programme and applies it to all our other vaccine programmes. It will help to transform the way vaccinations are provided in Wales.”

Dr Chris Johnson, head of the Vaccine Preventable Disease Programme at Public Health Wales, said: “Immunisation helps stop the spread of serious illnesses and provides health protection to the whole of our population.

“Ensuring we are all up to date with our vaccines is important for our own health, but also to protect the health of our children, friends, families and the vulnerable in our communities.”

He added: “Vaccinations are an essential public health tool, saving millions of lives globally every year. With successful vaccination campaigns we have made diseases such as smallpox, polio and rubella, that killed or disabled thousands each year, become a thing of the past in the UK. We are also making huge progress in reducing meningitis and HPV-related cancers.”