Delivery of Covid vaccine supplies to Wales face delays of up to four weeks, says health minister

Covid-19 vaccine supplies to Wales will delivered up to four weeks later than originally planned, the Welsh Government has confirmed.

It comes after UK Government Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the House of Commons this morning that over one-and-a-half million vaccine doses are to be re-tested.

There is also delay to vaccine doses arriving from India.

Today Welsh Government said it is working through “exactly what the reduced forecast means for our programme in Wales.”

Dr Gill Richardson, Chair of Wales’ COVID-19 Vaccine Programme, told BBC Radio Wales this morning that the country recently received “quite a large consignment of AstraZeneca.”

However in the coming weeks “we’ll only be receiving half of what we were expecting.”

“We’ve given that out to our health boards who distributed it at the GP and vaccination centre level last week,” explained Dr Richardson.

“They still have plenty of those supplies.

“And we know that it will not affect any appointment scheduled before the end of March.”

The vaccine rollout has ramped up across Wales recent weeks, with 1,180,155 first doses and 304,411 second doses have been administered.

However according to reports Wales will receive 240,000 fewer vaccines next month because of the supply issues.

Wales’ Health Minister Vaughan Gething issued a statement today on the supply delays, however he was not specific in terms of the number of doses Wales will not receive.

He added that the drop in supply should not impact the mid-April milestone of offering all the top nine priority groups a vaccine.

Mr Gething said: “More than 1.1 million people have now received their first dose and almost 300,000 people have received their full course.

“The data over recent days shows the pace at which our vaccination teams can work when the supply is available; vaccinating around the rate of 1% of the population a day.

“I have been clear throughout that supply is the limiting factor in our programme. If we had more supply, we could vaccinate more quickly.

“Members will be aware of reports yesterday evening (Wednesday) of a reduction in supply available across the UK.

“We have been informed by the UK Government that some of the supply we had been expecting to arrive in the UK before mid-April will now be delivered up to 4 weeks later than originally planned.

“The UK Government has provided assurances that this should not impact on delivery of our commitments to offer a first dose of the vaccine to the current 9 priority groups by the middle of April and all other eligible adults by the end of July.

“However, as we have every step of the way, we are working through exactly what the reduced forecast means for our programme in Wales.

“We will continue discussions with the UK Government with a focus on ensuring we meet the milestones in our national strategy.

“Significant supplies of vaccine were delivered to vaccination centres and GP practices last week and additional supplies are being delivered this week.

“So there will be no impact on those who have received their appointment for vaccination.