Health Board say Oxford vaccine ‘critical’ for increase in care home residents and over 80s vaccinations

The north Wales health board has said indicated the importance of the ‘Oxford vaccine’ to ramping up the local vaccination programme.

The Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine could be approved for use in the UK within days, however is currently awaiting approval with some reports that could come as soon as later today or tomorrow. The Oxford vaccine is seen as more manageable, requiring fridge temperatures, rather the current Pfizer vaccine which up to point of use requires -70C storage.

The details have emerged in a a vaccination update report seen by Wrexham.com that was shared to a range of authorities, elected represented and associated stakeholders on Christmas Eve. In it the Health Board detailed how on 7^th December 40 trays of vaccine arrived in Wales, with an initial rollout of one tray per Health Board, with the much publicised coordinated first vaccinations took place across the UK on Tuesday, 8^th December.

The Health Board say approximately 680, 000 vaccines will be administered to priority groups over the next three to four months. 

The report details on care homes,

“The nature of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine had, both nationally and locally, been deemed unsuitable for use in a care home setting, therefore the main thrust of delivery in the second week was to provide access to care home staff – part of the top priority group identified nationally. Llandudno Mass Vaccination Centre (MVC) delivered vaccines to around 1, 600 care home staff from across North Wales.  Staff from all six Local Authority areas attended Llandudno MVC with the available slots being booked within a couple of hours.

“We are also undertaking a pilot on behalf of Welsh Government of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine in a care home setting. This has demonstrated that although it is possible to deliver the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine to staff and residents in a care home setting, it requires significant resources in terms of planning and preparation, as well as a comparatively large workforce – 60 staff and residents were vaccinated using a resource that could vaccinate about 400 individuals in other settings.  This pilot has provided significant intelligence in relation to developing and delivering a programme to vaccinate the care home population.”

The report notes that to date, “only a relatively small number of care home residents and those over 80 years of age have been vaccinated”, with it explained “This will significantly increase from the beginning of January and the arrival of the Oxford vaccine is critical in this”.

The health board says that Welsh Government has provided details of the Oxford vaccine being available, with an expected initial delivery sometime in the first week of the New Year – with it noted that is “a provisional date which still has hurdles to clear with the MHRA, however we are developing plans to take that vaccine into care homes”.

We have previously detailed the difference in vaccine supply in North Wales, with the report commenting “We are confident that the North Wales COVID-19 Vaccine Programme will receive our proportion of the vaccines and will be able to administer it to match the future rate of supply.  Outline delivery schedules indicate sufficient supplies to vaccinate the entire priority groups. “

An overview of ‘escalation plans’ for January is also included in the report, “Increased availability of vaccines are matched with our workforce plan and increased vaccination sites (both Mass Vaccination Centres and Local Vaccination Centres and mobile vaccination teams to cater for care homes and the housebound.)

“Welsh Government has now put the necessary means in place to formally involve GPs and GP practices in administering vaccines.  We are ready for the inclusion of GPs to supplement our delivery models, which reflect the scale and geography of North Wales.”

A four week view was also provided:

• w/c 21^st December: Care home staff and BCUHB high risk staff
• w/c 28^th December: Care home staff
• w/c 4^th January:        Care home residents and staff, over 80s, BCUHB, Primary Care, WAST and social care staff
• w/c 11^th January:      Care home residents and staff, over 80s, BCUHB, Primary Care, WAST and social care staff

Roll out in Wales is based off the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) group that has advised that the first priorities for the COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of mortality and the maintenance of the health and social care systems. As the risk of mortality from COVID-19 increases with age, prioritisation is primarily based on age.

This priority list is as follows:

1. residents in a care home for older adults and their carers
2. all those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers
3. all those 75 years of age and over
4. all those 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals
5. all those 65 years of age and over
6. all individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality
7. all those 60 years of age and over
8. all those 55 years of age and over
9. all those 50 years of age and over

It is estimated that taken together, these groups represent around 99% of preventable mortality from COVID-19.

Public Health Wales have a huge ‘frequently asked questions’ page about the vaccination programme here on their website.

Top pic: A bottle of the vaccine in Wrexham earlier this month.