Claims North Wales isn’t receiving fair share of Covid vaccine dismissed by Health Minister

Claims that North Wales is not getting its fair share of Covid vaccine have been dismissed by Wales’ health minister Vaughan Gething.

Welsh Conservative shadow minister, Darren Millar MS, raised concerns over whether the region is receiving a fair share of the vaccine after figures revealed more jabs have taken place in areas of Wales with smaller populations.

According to Public Health Wales, as of 20 December, just 2,544 people living in the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board area had been vaccinated, compared to 4,264 in the Cardiff and the Vale University Health Board area, which has a smaller population.

Mr Millar said: “People in North Wales are concerned that they’re not getting their fair share of the vaccine.

“The most recent figures from Public Health Wales seem to demonstrate that people in Cardiff are more than two and a half times more likely to have been given the Covid vaccine than people in North Wales, and people in Powys are four times more likely to have been vaccinated. This is unacceptable and must be addressed.

The Clwyd West MS said: “Given the approval of the new Oxford vaccine, which is manufactured in North Wales, the Welsh Government must now ramp up the rollout of immunisations, make sure that the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board gets its fair share of doses and ensure that those at highest risk of harm from COVID-19 are able to access their jabs as soon as possible.”

During a virtual plenary session yesterday, health minister Vaughan Gething said: “I’m happy to confirm that every part of Wales will continue to receive its fair share, so I would expect that when we ultimately see all the figures smoothed out that the Betsi [Cadwaladr Health Board] delivery will be in accordance with its population—I think it’s about 23% or 24% of the population.”

“So, it will get its fair share. It’s not being held back. It’s actually about its ability to test all of its systems and then go ahead and accelerate delivery.”

Mr Gething said: “I certainly think that with the roll-out of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, you will see communities across north Wales have even easier and readier access to the vaccine.”

“We won’t be asking people to move themselves to mass vaccination centres, we’ll actually be able to more readily and easily transfer and transport the vaccine around.

He said: “I should just say, as you mentioned Powys, that I think Powys have been remarkably can-do in their approach, not just for citizens in Powys, but where they’ve had gaps in their ability, to reduce wastage they have offered some vacant slots to either north Wales, depending on the part of the county of Powys where they’re delivering, or indeed some south Wales health board areas where they’re delivering there as well.”

“As we go through the coming weeks and months, and more and more of us see our communities being protected by the rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and the much easier access we’ll all see to that.” Added the health minister.

The second COVID-19 vaccine has been authorised for use in the UK, allowing a significant expansion of the immunisation programme.

Welsh participants and healthcare professionals have played a key role in the Oxford-AstraZeneca trials.

We are very proud to have worked on this alongside @AneurinBevanUHB @ResearchWales and the @CTRCardiffUni 👏https://t.co/NToZI09UVU pic.twitter.com/APF409iae4

— Public Health Wales (@PublicHealthW) December 30, 2020

The UK regulator has accepted the recommendation of the Commission on Human Medicines and authorised the Oxford University/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

This follows months of rigorous clinical trials involving tens of thousands of people and an extensive analysis of the vaccine’s safety, quality and effectiveness by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

The UK government has already ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine which is more mobile and can be deployed in many different places and vaccinations are set to begin from next week.

The initial launch of the vaccine programme in North Wales began on December 8th, just days after the Pfizer, Inc/BioNTech vaccine was given the green light for use in the UK.

Care home staff, health and social care workers and those aged 80 have been amongst the first to receive the jab.