“Short, sharp burst of activity” to offer booster jabs as “significant” omicron wave expected in January

Wales’ deputy chief medical officer for vaccines has said she is confident that coronavirus boosters will be offered to all eligible adults by the end of January.

Today it was announced that 200,000 jabs will be administered across Wales each week in an attempt to increase vaccination coverage to reduce the spread of coronavirus.

The push comes as a result of the emergence of the omicron variant, which scientists believe can spread faster than the Delta variant.

So far there are just four cases of the variant identified in Wales, three of which are linked to travel.

However across the UK the numbers have continued to rise over the last week with more than 400 cases identified cases as of Tuesday.

Omicron is expected to become dominant in Wales in the coming weeks before reaching its peak next month.

Speaking at a Welsh Government press conference yesterday Dr Gill Richardson, Wales’ deputy chief medical officer for vaccines, said she is confident that all eligible adults over the age of 18 will be offered their booster by the end of January.

Vaccines are again being offered in the same priority order from the initial rollout.

Dr Richardson said: “Last week, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and immunisation recommended a large expansion of the vaccination program to increase our protection against the new omicron variant.

“This really is a huge task but we are confident that by the end of January, we will have offered all eligible adults their booster

“The more boosters and vaccines we can give to people over the next couple of months, the best chance we have of preventing harm as cases of the new variant rise.

“We have sufficient supply of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to do this.

“We have already started ramping up the booster program, but to ensure that we can maximise protection for everyone we expect to be offering more than 200,000 appointments every week.”

Health boards will do this by providing more vaccination centres in easy-to-access locations, including walk-in and drive-through clinics with longer opening hours. GPs and community pharmacies will continue to deliver the vaccine and local government, fire services and students will provide other support to clinics.

The Welsh Government say they have also requested assistance from the military.

Health Minister Eluned Morgan said the booster jab rollout will be a “short, sharp burst of activity”, but warned that there may be some reductions to planned care after the NHS was told to prioritise vaccinations.

Asked what evidence there was that three doses of the vaccine will help reduce the spread of omicron, Dr Richardson explained that there are concerns that some mutations could mean the variant “may sidestep natural immunity that has been achieved through infection” and immunisation.

Mr Morgan said: “What we do know is it spreads very rapidly, that is clearly cause for concern.

“I think what’s just as important is to underline that we still don’t know how sick this variant makes you

“We have been monitoring the situation in South Africa, where we’ve seen hospital admissions go up from about 143 to 788 in two weeks. So that clearly gives us cause for concern.

“But we don’t know if that’s a pattern that we would see reflected in our population.

“We don’t know the extent to which our vaccines will give us protection, but we do think that they will give us a lot more than having no vaccine at all so that’s why our plea today is please help us in this situation.”

Ms Morgan added: “It doesn’t matter if this is your first vaccine or your booster, please just say yes to the vaccine. It’s never too late to be vaccinated.

“For the last 12 months vaccines have been our best defence against the virus.

“They have saved lives and have weakened the link between infections and serious illness, preventing thousands of people from needing hospital treatment.

“Please make getting your vaccine or booster a priority over the next few weeks. It is one of the best ways we can disrupt the transmission of the virus this winter, especially as we face the new uncertainty of the omicron variant.

“A vaccine will be the best Christmas present you can give yourself and your family this year.”