“More significant upswing” predicted for vaccination roll out after two week ‘slight dip’ of vaccine supply

Wrexham’s Local Vaccination Centre is set to remain open, with the Health Minister saying there will be ‘slight dip’ of vaccine supply for two weeks.

We asked the Health Minister about Local Vaccination Centres in Wrexham and North Wales amid reports some will close in the south due to ‘planned’ vaccine shortage supplies, with Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board saying on Thursday it was pausing vaccinations at four Mass Vaccination Centre centres for a fortnight along with a Community Vaccination Centre (CVC) in Merthyr Tydfil closing.

Details on how the dip in vaccination supplies are set to be explained by the local health boards, with the Health Minister telling us, “Each Health Board will set out for its local population and local media how they’re going to manage a slight dip in vaccination supply that we’re expecting for the next two weeks. That may mean that some centers are closed, that may mean that we’re delivering more through local health care. Each Health Board will need to manage that in accordance with its local population where it still is in terms of its supply , while still managing the second doses that are carrying on with.”

“We expect when we get back into March we’re going to see a return to increased levels of vaccination supply available to us. That will mean we will be able to stand up all of those arrangements, as well, they’ve been making greater use of local pharmacy as well, because we’ve yet to maximise our ability and our capacity to to deliver vaccinations across Wales.

“So we can go even faster if we have the supply in place and if we have the certainty of the future supply, that’s why the next two weeks are not something that I think people should be overly concerned about, you’ll still see tens of thousands of people vaccinated each week, but will then return to an even more significant upswing after that.

“Again, that’s why we can have some confidence, I think that we’ll get to everyone in groups one to nine by the end of April, if supply lines remain as we expect.”

We asked the local health board about the comments, and was told there was no plan to close the Catrin Finch vaccination centre due to the planned shortfall in vaccinations, as has happened elsewhere in Wales, we also enquired which vaccination centres will have limited service or shut in North Wales, and for how long.

Gill Harris, Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director Nursing And Midwifery, said: “Local Vaccination Centres which have opened in recent weeks remain available to provide vaccines at present, but we continue to monitor whether they are needed in relation to vaccine supply, as detailed in the North Wales Vaccination Plan, which is available on the Health Board website.”

“Our Mass Vaccination Centres are not being stood down. All three are currently being used to provide second doses of the Pfizer vaccine.”

The health board also pointed to the North Wales Vaccination plan published last month for further detail: https://bcuhb.nhs.wales/covid-19/vaccination-documents/vaccination-strategy-update-january-2021-nbsp/ which includes the following note on what Local Vaccination Centres are used for, “As part of a contingency plan for vaccine delivery, and if required to upscale at pace, we have the potential to open a further 15 Local Vaccination Centres (LVC), planned to ensure that the majority of the North Wales population are within a 30 minute drive time of a vaccination centre.

“Deployment will be dependent on supply of vaccine in order to upscale capacity and delivery of the vaccine to the North Wales population. LVCs can be mobilised within 7 days, but will only be required when vaccine supplies reach 40,000 vaccines per week or where GP Clusters request a vaccination site.”