Over 60,000 in north Wales receive spring covid-19 booster jab

More than 60,000 people across North Wales received a spring covid-19 booster jab.

The figures, provided by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, have been released as the spring vaccination campaign comes to an end.

The top-up jab was offered to older people and adults and children with a compromised immune system from serious illness caused by coronavirus.

Overall 64,322 of the most vulnerable came forward for the vaccine – the equivalent of 83.1 per cent of those who were eligible.

The health board say that this exceeds the Welsh Government target of 75 per cent.

A spokesperson for Betsi Cadwaladr said: “National figures show we were the second best-performing health board in Wales during the Spring campaign.

“Only our colleagues in Powys delivered boosters to a higher proportion of the population.

“Our vaccination teams delivered more than 15,000 more boosters than any other health board, and have now given a total of more than 2.3 million since the COVID-19 programme began in December 2020.

“We would like to thank everyone who came forward to take up their invitation for a Spring booster vaccine, our many partners across North Wales, and the dozens of venues we worked with to deliver vaccination clinics at the centre of communities across our region.

“To protect against the serious illness caused by COVID-19, we continue to encourage people at highest risk from the virus to take up the offer of booster vaccines as recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and the Welsh Government.”

The health board is now preparing for the rollout of the autumn covid-19 booster, which will begin later this year.

A spokesperson added: “We also continue to work with our partners to support other priority vaccination programmes, including the introduction of RSV vaccination for pregnant women and older adults.

“We will share more details about these programmes in the coming weeks.”