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Hefin David is the Labour Senedd Member for the Caerphilly constituency.

It is encouraging to see how well the vaccine rollout is going across Wales. This is thanks to the hard work of our NHS staff and volunteers. As of Friday last week, one million vaccines had been administered in Wales. However, there is still some way to go.

This week in the Senedd, I asked the First Minister for clarification around vaccines for unpaid carers. He told me that there will be an online form made available for individuals to complete, which is the best way to ensure Welsh Government reach as many carers as they can, regardless of if they are in receipt of Carer’s Allowance or not. The Health Minister later confirmed that the online form will be available across Wales by Monday. You can watch my question to the First Minster here: Senedd.tv – Plenary – 02/03/2021.  

Wales is still on track to meet our target of offering a vaccine to all of priority groups 5-9 by mid-April. Following the completion of all 9 priority groups, phase two of the JCVI vaccination process will begin, by which people will continue to be called in age order. 

The JCVI have advised Welsh Government that an age-based approach is the simplest, quickest, and fairest approach to the population as a whole.

Phase two will begin with those aged 40-49 and it is planned that all eligible adults in Wales will have been offered a vaccine by July 31.

If you have not been called for vaccine AND are aged between 70-71, 80 years and over or classed as clinically extremely vulnerable, you should contact your GP practice to request an appointment.

If you are aged between 72-79 and have not yet received an invite for your vaccine, you should complete the online form at the following link and somebody from the Health Board’s Covid-19 booking team will make contact with you: Aged 72-79 and not received your invitation – Aneurin Bevan University Health Board (nhs.wales).

It’s been a busy time for my office. As well as participating in the Senedd, in meetings with public services and constituents, and doing my best to represent Caerphilly residents on all issues Covid (and not Covid) related; I am also in preparation for the start of the Senedd election campaign.

The election in Wales is still very likely to go ahead on May 6, although in very different circumstances to what we are used to. If you have concerns about voting safely during coronavirus, you can sign up for a postal vote here: Caerphilly – Register to vote. You can also register to vote at the same link if you will be 16 or over at the time of the election. 

But I’ve been keen not to engage in election campaigning too soon and, regardless of your political affiliation, I remain your Member of the Senedd until April 28 and will do my best to help you however I can and however you vote.

If you would like to get in touch you can do so on Hefin.David@senedd.wales or by telephone on (01443) 838542.

You can also get involved and ask questions on my Facebook live streams, which take place every other Tuesday evening.

In the meantime, stay safe and stay well.