North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has questioned the Welsh Health Minister over falling vaccination numbers in parts of North Wales and called on him to respond to a number of concerns regarding the rollout raised by constituents.
Responding to the Minister’s Statement yesterday on the Vaccination Rollout, Mr Isherwood asked why vaccination numbers in England and the South of Wales have been increasing, but dropping in areas of North Wales.
He also questioned him over vaccines for unpaid Carers now that some of these have been added to Vaccination Priority Group 6.
Taking part in the virtual proceedings, he said:
“With several constituents in places like Llangollen asking ‘if the fall in vaccine supply the Minister referred to last week is being felt by all Health Board’s, why is it that England and the south of Wales are seeing consistent and indeed increasing, vaccination numbers, as ours fall?’, how do you respond to the constituent who stated: ‘My wife falls within target group 6, and I fall within target group 7, for vaccination against Covid. Would you please ask the Welsh Government why, to date, 49,994 people within group 8 and 43,648 people within group 9 have been vaccinated ahead of us?’
“And now that unpaid Carers who are eligible for a carer’s allowance, or those who are the sole or primary carer of an elderly or disabled person who is at increased risk of COVID-19 mortality and therefore clinically vulnerable, have been added to Vaccination Priority Group 6, how do you respond to the constituent who asked: ‘Can you get a register discussed from a medical perspective for the unpaid carers added to Group 6, because given not all Carers claim the allowance either due to working, studying or they are unaware, there are a lot of people that will fall through the cracks?’.”
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Isherwood added: “In his response, the Health Minister insisted that ‘it is not the case that any one region of Wales has been preferred over another’, but these are legitimate concerns which personally affected and anxious constituents asked me to raise with the Welsh Government. The Minister should respect this”.
With regards unpaid carers, the Health Minister said there will be an online form for them to complete, which will be available across Wales by Monday.