COVID-19 vaccination programme weekly update: 05 May 2021

Our National Vaccination Strategy was published on 11 January and is based on the detailed planning NHS Wales had been doing.  Our strategy is focused on 3 key areas:

Our priorities – we continue to work closely with the UK Government on supply.  Based on what we know about supply and the priority cohorts set by the JCVI, we have set key milestones

Our vaccination infrastructure – making sure that people can access their vaccination offer - the places to go to get vaccinated, people to give the vaccination and the appointment and digital recording and reporting system set up

Keeping up to date and informed about the vaccination programme – we are committed to providing information to keep everyone in Wales updated about the vaccination programme.

An update to our National Strategy was published on 23 March 2021, further to the Update published on 26 February to reflect on progress and provide further information about our current and future priorities.

Our priority list of people to receive the vaccine has been agreed by endorsing the UK’s independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The same priority list is being followed by all four nations in the UK and has the support of all 4 Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) within the UK.
As set in the progress section below, we have completed the first phase of the programme: 

• all older person care home residents and staff
• frontline health and social care staff
• those 50 years of age and over
• the clinically extremely vulnerable individuals
• those with underlying health  conditions with put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality

We are now in phase 2 of the programme. Subject to supply, our aim is to offer the vaccine to all eligible adults in Wales by the end of July. 

As we continue to operate on the principle of no one left behind, the NHS will go back and offer those in priority groups 1-9 who for various reason have not yet taken up their offer. 

That means, we are now vaccinating:

• everyone aged 30 to 39
• remaining adults aged 40-49
• household contacts of severely immunosuppressed 
• anyone who, for whatever reason, was missed in priority groups 1-9, so that no one is left behind

We have a 50% gateway in place for moving from one cohort to the next, all health boards have vaccinated over 50% of adults in their 40s in their area, so the 30-39 age group is being invited for vaccination. 

Our second dose programme is running substantively alongside our first dose programme. The second dose is essential for longer term protection so it’s really important that second dose offers are taken up. 

Our infrastructure has been built from the ground up and is a blended delivery model. This is aimed at providing a mix of sites in order to maximise speed of roll out, ensure safety, meet the needs of the characteristics of the vaccines, be as conveniently located as possible and, importantly make sure we give equitable access across the country and all communities. 

During the past week vaccinations were being administered in 516 locations across Wales, including:

• 56 mass vaccination centres
• 361 general practice locations
• 14 pharmacies
• 40 hospital locations
• and there were 43 mobile teams operating

Achievement of markers and milestones

We have completed phase 1 of our programme, which includes 2 milestones. 

Milestone 1

In our Vaccination Strategy we said that subject to supply we would: 

offered the vaccine to all individuals in cohorts 1–4 by mid February.  That includes all older person care home residents and staff; frontline health and social care staff; those 70 years of age and over; and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals.

We confirmed on 12 February that we had achieved this milestone.  

We also outlined 3 markers to deliver as part of our journey to achieving milestone 1 by mid-February:  

• marker 1 was to have offered a first dose of the vaccine to all frontline Welsh Ambulance Trust staff by 18 January
• marker 2 was to have offered the vaccine to all older person care home residents and staff by the end of January
• marker 3 was to have 250 GP practices deploying the vaccine by the end of January

These first groups are now being offered their second dose of the vaccine, which is important for longer term protection.  89.3% of care home residents have now received their full course of the vaccine, with 90.7% of care home staff having had at least one dose.

Milestone 2

We said we would, subject to supply: 

Offered the vaccine to all individuals in cohorts 1-9 by mid April. That includes all those aged 50 and over.

We achieved this milestone on 4 April. 

We also outlined 3 markers we expected to achieve during milestone 2 by mid-April:   

• 1 million vaccine doses administered by 7 March.  This was achieved ahead of the target date on 27 February
• 1 million first doses administered by 14 March. This was achieved ahead of the target date on 9 March
• 1.5 million doses administered during Milestone 2. This was achieved

In summary:

• all those in priority groups 1-9 have been offered the vaccine and over 90% have now received their first dose
• up-take is very high - over 95% for some groups, including care home residents, and those aged 75 and over
• so far 1,873,152 people have received their first dose of the vaccine in Wales
• 783,120 people have received their full course of vaccine. In total, more than 2.6 million vaccines have been administered
• 73.9% of our adult population have had a first dose and more than one in four adults in Wales have completed the two-dose course

There are always plans in place to ensure that no one is left behind, so it is never too late for someone in the first priority groups to come forward for their vaccination. 

Phase 2 of our Vaccination Programme is underway and our current priority is milestone 3 in our strategy. 

We have said, subject to supply, it is our aim to offer everyone in the current 10 priority groups their first dose of the vaccine by the end of July.  

We are quickly working our way through the age groups in priority group 10 across Wales. As we set out in our vaccination strategy, we have a 50% gateway in place for moving from one cohort to the next. All health boards have vaccinated over 50% of people aged 40-49, this means that people aged 30-39 will be invited for their appointments across Wales. 

Some areas are also close to reaching the 50% gateway of their 30-39 age group population, which is the threshold for beginning to invite the next group; this means that the 18-29 group in some areas will start receiving appointment letters. In line with JCVI advice, the NHS is working hard to make the appropriate vaccine available at the right time for individuals.

We are continuously monitoring progress in each health board and working together to ensure consistent up take across all areas so that no one is left behind. People in Wales are stepping up and attending their appointments, enabling the programme to continue moving at pace.

Reaching the 50% gateway does not mean that health boards stop calling the rest of the age group for appointments, it allows operational flexibility so that vaccination clinic lists are as full as possible to reduce vaccine wastage and to keep momentum in the programme. Everyone will be called for vaccination; if you miss a letter, you will receive another appointment.

People’s safety will always come first. We continually and closely review vaccine safety reports and the independent regulator, the MHRA, continues to review the evidence on safety. We are confident in our vaccines and certain that we must keep momentum. We have always adhered to expert JCVI advice and will continue to do so throughout the programme. 

Latest real world evidence on vaccination effectiveness. A new study by Public Health England (PHE) has shown that one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine reduces household transmission by up to half. The new research shows that those given a first dose of either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines - and who became infected three weeks later - were between 38% and 49% less likely to pass the virus on than unvaccinated people, PHE found. The study is yet to be fully peer-reviewed, but is certainly welcome news. 

Vaccine supply is the limiting factor of our programme. We continue to manage supply allocated to Wales and health boards and GPs are allocated sufficient supply of vaccine for second doses at an interval of around 11 to 12 weeks. It is important everyone has their second dose to complete the vaccination course.

It is important that we maintain the current high-levels of vaccine uptake to keep Wales safe. Every dose administered and every person protected really does make a difference.

The vaccines are safe and effective and we urge everyone to take up their offer when it is their turn. People’s safety will always come first, the independent regulator, the MHRA, continues to review the evidence on safety. We continually and closely review vaccine safety reports and we are confident in our vaccines and certain that we must keep momentum. 

Public Health Wales has FAQs about the vaccine and safety, they are also publishing daily and weekly surveillance data releases.

A range of information on our vaccination programme is available on our website, including guidance published relating to the priority groups. 

Welsh Government statisticians are also publishing some of the more operational statistics attached to the programme each week.