Almost 50,000 coronavirus vaccines administered across Wales so far

Almost 50,000 covid-19 vaccines have been administered across Wales.

Data released by Public Health Wales today shows that 49,428 people have been vaccinated up to the week ending January 3.

In the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) area,  5,884 people have been vaccinated.

25 people of those people received their second dose of the Pfizer BioNtech vaccine. This was before a decision was made to introduce a 12 gap between the two doses.

These figures will not include the numbers who have received the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine which was rolled out on Monday.

Healthcare workers, those over the age of 80 and care home residents are amongst the first to be be offered a vaccine.

Those aged between 75 and 79 will be immunised next, followed by 70-74 year-olds. The following priorities then apply:

• All those 70 years of age and over
• All those 65 years of age and over
• High-risk adults under 65 years of age
• Moderate-risk adults under 65 years of age
• All those 60 years of age and over
• All those 55 years of age and over
• All those 50 years of age and over
• Rest of the population (priority to be determined)

There has been criticism over the speed of the rollout of the vaccine in north Wales, with the Welsh Conservatives stating that a “postcode lottery” is starting to emerge.

However claims of vaccine disparity have been rejected by Health Minister Vaughan Gething who said that all parts of Wales will receive their fair share of the coronavirus vaccines.

Earlier this week the BBC Local Democracy Service reported that BCUHB had outlined plans to rapidly “accelerate” roll-out of vaccinations across the region after initial “supply chain” problems.

This week the board is receiving 5,000 doses of the Oxford/Astra Zeneca inoculation and more than 8,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine.

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board will eventually be using up to 19 mass vaccination centres, GP surgeries, mobile immunisation teams and the military to increase roll-out of both Pfizer/BioNtech and newly approved Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccines.

So far six mass vaccination centres have been brought into play but others will open up as more doses of the jabs filter through – Wrexham.com understands one will be in Plas Madoc and the other on the Glyndwr University site.

Commenting earlier this week on the vaccine role out, a BCUHB spokesperson said: “We want to reassure people across North Wales that we have a robust and well-considered plan to administer the vaccine to all of our priority groups as quickly and as safely as possible.

“Over the course of our Covid-19 vaccination programme, we will receive an allocation in proportion to the size of our priority population.

“We have commissioned significantly more mass vaccination centre and hospital vaccination centre sites than any other health board and have well developed plans in place to introduce local vaccination centres and mobile vaccination teams.

“We are very well placed to accelerate our roll-out of the vaccine, taking advantage of the greater volumes we expect to receive in the coming weeks.

“We now have both the increased availability of vaccines as well as more staff and vaccination sites to help us reach more people, more quickly.”

BCUHB is set to contact 300 people aged 80 and over to be given the jab at mass vaccination centres this week as a system test.

The Oxford/Astra Zeneca jab will be targeted at those aged over 80 who are inpatients across acute and community sites and care home residents. The board is also expected to vaccinate around 650 in-patients this week.

Members of the public are also reminded that when it is their turn for vaccination, they will be contacted by the NHS with appointment details.