Vaccination rollout is moving quickly into Younger age groups

THE vaccination rollout in Wales is now moving quickly into younger age groups with more than half of people aged 40 to 49 having had a jab and more than a quarter of 30 to 39 year olds.

However there is a significant difference in the vaccination rates across Wales with the most effective local health board - Powys - having given out a third more doses of a vaccine than the least effective health board, Cardiff.

Nearly two thirds of the entire population of Powys (65%) have had a Covid jab while fewer than half (44%) of people in Cardiff and the Vale have had a jab.

The detailed vaccination update published by Public Health Wales shows that 51.6% of 40 to 49 year olds have received their first dose of the vaccine in Wales, while 12.3% of the same age group have received a second dose.

The data includes vaccines recorded electronically up to 10pm the day before, and show that 26.1% of 30 to 39 year olds have been given their first dose of the vaccine, while a further 10% have received their second dose.

Over the last week, many health boards have opened up reserve lists for younger age groups as concerns have been raised that there will be more no-shows as the rollout reaches younger age groups.

On Thursday, Public Health Wales published the latest weekly data on the rollout of the vaccine across every part of the country for the week up to April 11.

As of April 11, a total of 2,120,647 doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered in Wales.

Of the 2,120,657 doses given, 1,588,499 were first doses and 532,148 were second doses.

The detailed figures published up to April 11 show a comparison of all Welsh health boards.

While Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board leads the way with the highest number of first doses administered with 35,6759, Powys Teaching Health Board has the highest rate of administration with 63,628 per 100,000 people having received the vaccine.

That is more than half of the population in the health board area having received a vaccination.

Most health boards in Wales have now administered more than half of their population, with only Cardiff and Vale Health Board and Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board falling short of that number.

A breakdown of who has been vaccinated up to April 11, by priority group, shows most of the priority groups are at or above

90% completion in terms of getting their first jabs, and making good headway on the under 50s.

Another chart shows the number of first doses received by each priority group in Wales.

In this chart, individuals are counted in one group only, which is their highest priority group.

This excludes others prioritised earlier in the campaign and is useful to show how the vaccine progress is being made in age groups not in the top priority,

For example, in this chart, it shows that 30.8% of all healthy 40-49 year olds with no existing conditions have been vaccinated.

This is in contrast to the total number of people in this age group who have been vaccinated, which stands at 51.6%.

This is because some people in this age group may have received a vaccine as part of an earlier priority group.

Since this data was recorded, a further 51,546 first doses of the vaccine have been administered, meaning as of end of the day, April 14, 1,640,045 people in Wales have received their first dose of the vaccine.

A further 27,740 second doses have also been administered in the same timeframe, bringing the total number of people having received both their first and second vaccine in Wales to 559,888.