Many thanks for contacting me regarding COVID-19 vaccinations.
The UK Government has secured over 350 million doses of different COVID-19 vaccines and is distributing them to each nation of the UK based on population as and when vaccines are approved to be used by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). At the moment, two vaccines have been approved for use the UK: the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine.
In Wales, is it the role of the Welsh Government to distribute the vaccines. Currently, every Health Board in Wales is meant to receive an allocation of doses in proportion to the size of its priority population and ability to deliver as outlined by the prioritisation list of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which is being used across the UK.
The vaccine is being given out in a priority order to ensure that the most vulnerable in our communities by age and our frontline health and social care staff receive it first. Other key workers will be immunised depending on what age and risk category they fall into. You can find more information on the priority list by visiting the Public Health Wales website:
My colleagues and I in the Welsh Parliament have consistently raised our concerns that the Welsh Labour-led Government was not getting the vaccines out as swiftly as needed, and have called for specific actions to support a significant increase in the rollout – including having a Vaccinations Minister to take overarching control and publish targets for the vaccination programme.
It is only after such pressure has been brought to bear on the Welsh Labour-led Government – once the First Minister was caught saying that he was keeping vaccinations back so staff wouldn’t be standing around doing nothing – that Wales has caught up with the rest of the UK in recent weeks.
The Welsh Government has said that people should not phone their GP, pharmacy, or hospital asking when they will get a vaccine. When someone is in one of the groups eligible for the vaccine, they will be invited to attend a dedicated clinic which will have been set up to ensure patient safety and that of the healthcare professionals. Correspondence will come from local health boards and the vaccine is free of charge through the NHS.
People are also being warned to be alert to scams asking for money or personal information in return for a vaccine.
Thank you again for taking the time to write to me.
