Vaccine could go to high-risk groups in weeks
A CORONAVIRUS vaccine would be offered to people in high-risk groups in Wales as early as December if it passes final safety checks in time, the Welsh Government has said.
Health and social care workers, as well as care home residents and staff are in line to receive the jab first, before a rollout to people in older age bands in the new year.
A Welsh Government spokesman said yesterday: “Planning for the delivery of a potential Covid-19 vaccine in Wales is well under way.
“This includes organising the logistics for transporting the vaccine, identifying suitable venues for vaccinations to take place and ensuring that healthcare professionals are available and trained to administer the vaccines.
“There will be limited supplies of a vaccine at first, so it will be offered to those at highest risk. The vaccines need to pass final safety checks, but if this occurs we will begin to immunise in December alongside other UK nations.
“Health and social care workers, care home residents and staff have been prioritised to receive a vaccine first, with roll-out to older people in age bands from next year.”
First Minister Mark Drakeford said the vaccine offers a “glimmer of hope” – but added its efficacy in older people is currently unknown.
He told the Senedd he was concerned about the “triumphalist way” in which news of the Pfizer vaccine – which could prevent up to 90% of people from getting Covid-19 – had been reported by some.
He said it was “welcome” that the stage three trial for the vaccine had been met with success, but cautioned it was “not the end of the story at all”.
Mr Drakeford said there were “important further steps” before that vaccine, or any of the other 11 vaccines at stage three trials, would come to fruition.
“I really, really do not want people in Wales to take the wrong message from what was being said on Monday,” Mr Drakeford told the Senedd.
“We will be fighting coronavirus with the current armoury that we have at our disposal for many months to come.
“While we look forward to the day when there is a vaccine, we need to be cautious in the way we approach it and not persuade people to act as though coronavirus is over and help is just around the corner.
“It really isn’t going to be like that.” Following questioning by Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price, Mr Drakeford confirmed Wales would receive its “population share” of any approved vaccine.
The Welsh Government will handle the planning for the storage and distribution of the vaccine, with the Pfizer option needing to be stored a below minus 75°C, he said.
“My understanding of this vaccine is that it can only be taken out of refrigeration on four occasions before it’s no longer capable of being used,” Mr Drakeford told the Senedd.
“So there are some very real constraints with it. It has to be administered twice, at a three-week interval, and it doesn’t become effective until the first week after the second dose of the vaccine has been delivered.
“We don’t yet know as to whether or not it will be effective in older people, and that’s particularly a challenge at the moment because the Welsh plan, which is very similar to plans elsewhere in the United Kingdom, is to begin with priority groups and to begin with priority staff who are capable of administering the vaccine.”
Mr Drakeford said health and social care staff were likely to be given the vaccine first, followed by care home residents and those in “later stages of life”.
He agreed with Mr Price’s description of news of the vaccine as a “glimmer of hope”. “It is hopeful and we need a bit of hope in these difficult times, but we mustn’t exaggerate it either,” Mr Drakeford told the Senedd.
The UK Government is leading procurement of possible vaccines on behalf of the whole UK, with each nation taking a share in proportion to its population and choosing how it is circulated.