New mass vaccination centre to open at former toy store
A NEW mass-vaccination centre is set to open at the former Toys R Us site in Cardiff Bay.
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board has confirmed that it will become the region’s fourth centre following on from existing sites in Splott, Pentwyn and Barry.
The new ‘Bayside MVC’ will boost vaccine numbers by up to 2,500 per day providing there are no issues with supply. The new centre will be available towards the end of March and will be accessible for people living in Cardiff and the eastern part of Vale of Glamorgan.
Fiona Kinghorn, executive director of public health at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, said: “This is the largest vaccination programme the NHS has ever been involved in and to date tremendous progress has been made. So far we have vaccinated over a third of our adult population with first doses and some are now receiving their second doses,
which provides the best protection.
“We are working closely with all of our partners and stakeholders to enable us to deliver the vaccine to as many people as possible as quickly as possible and have been grateful to those that have supported us through this process.
“Over the next few weeks we anticipate our capacity to increase in line with the new centre and support of our primary care contractors.”
Meanwhile, all 60 GP practices across the two counties are also taking part in the programme and community pharmacies are set to join from April.
Leader of Cardiff council Councillor Huw Thomas said: “The council is proud to be playing an integral role in delivering the mass-vaccination programme, alongside our Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and the Vale of Glamorgan Council partners, and I welcome the announcement that a new mass-vaccination centre is soon to be opened in Cardiff, within a council-owned property.
“Cardiff council staff have been at the forefront in the fight to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic since it struck us one year ago, and I want to pay tribute to the incredible work being undertaken.
“We worked closely with the health board several months before a vaccine was available, planning what a rollout might look like, the logistics involved, the types of buildings required and traffic management.
“The tragedies caused by the global pandemic will never be forgotten, but the increasing pace of the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine in Cardiff and the Vale brings further hope that the end of the crisis is in sight, and we can begin the process of recovery.”
In addition to the new centre, the health board is also looking at opportunities to increase local access in the western parts of Vale of Glamorgan.
Discussions are taking place with GP practices in the area and community pharmacies to provide additional vaccination capacity to residents living in this area.
To date the health board has delivered more than 155,000 vaccines, with 133,257 of these being first doses.
Priority groups 5-7 are currently being contacted for their first doses, while groups 1-4 will start to be contacted for their second doses over the coming months.
All first doses for groups 1-9 will be completed by April 19, which includes people aged 50 and over.
Groups 1-9:
1. Residents in a care home for older adults and staff working in care homes for older adults
2. All those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers
3. All those 75 years of age and over
4. All those 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals (not including pregnant women and those under 16 years of age)
5. All those 65 years of age and over
6. Adults aged 16 to 65 years at risk
7. All those 60 years of age and over
8. All those 55 years of age and over
9. All those 50 years of age and over
10. Rest of the population (to be determined).
Vale of Glamorgan councillor Ben Gray, cabinet member for social care and health, said: “More than 150,000 vaccinations have now been given in Cardiff and the Vale and the collective effort to reach this number has been nothing short of phenomenal.
“The Vale of Glamorgan Council has worked closely with our partners in the health board and Cardiff council to ensure we are able to administer all available vaccines as quickly as possible.
“This new centre for Cardiff and the Vale will allow us to move through the next priority groups even more quickly and bring the end of the pandemic closer still.”
WALES will need to “closely monitor” trends in coronavirus infection rates as more children return to face-to-face learning, scientists are warning the Welsh Government.
The latest report from the Technical Advisory Cell (TAC), a group of researchers who advise the Welsh Government on coronavirus policy, states that it is “very likely” that the number of children with Covid-19 declined over the first six weeks of 2021.
However, surveillance data from across the UK has shown that as children start returning to school, infection rates in the community tend to rise as a result.
The report states that appropriate “mitigations” such as ventilation, social distancing and handwashing are vital in school settings to reduce transmission.
Children aged three to seven returned to the classroom in Wales on February 22, and all other primary school pupils are set to follow suit in “a flexible way” by March 15.
Similarly, pupils in years 11 and 13 of secondary school are set to be back by March 15, and those taking exams in years 10 and 12 will also return on that date. Years 7, 8 and 9 are set to have “check-in” sessions before Easter and are due to return fully from mid-April.
In its report, the TAC states that the risk of harm from infection to children remains low, particularly in the youngest age categories.
“The levels of risk of infections and outbreaks in educational settings is strongly associated with community infection rates,” the report states.
“As with other settings, appropriate mitigations such as ventilation, social distancing and handwashing are important in school settings to reduce transmission.
“There is still clear evidence of the negative educational impact of missing school, particularly for younger children; and that the pandemic has had a negative impact on the mental health of children and young people, with adolescents being particularly affected.”
Government officials estimate the opening of primary and secondary schools is likely to increase the ‘R’ rate by a factor of 1.1 to 1.5 (10% to 50%).
“The relative impact on ‘R’ of schools opening for more on-site learning increases as additional cohorts of children return to school,” the report adds.
“This largely results from compounding the impact from other groups of pupils who have already returned. Therefore, the risk is not linear and the groups which return latest may have the greatest impact on ‘R’.”
Sage also noted in its own research that reopening schools needs to be considered “in the wider context”, as it will affect the activities and behaviours of parents and other adults as well as children.
The TAC report adds: “A phased reopening would allow the effects to be assessed which would be particularly valuable if schools were one of the first things to reopen, as there will be more uncertainties in the early stages of releasing measures (eg around the impact of vaccines).”
Due to the very small numbers of children affected by severe disease, scientists state it is not clear whether the more infectious B117 Kent variant leads to more severe infection.
However, it was discovered that children from minority ethnic groups had a lower uptake of testing and were more likely to test positive than those from white population groups.
“While rates are very low, Asian children were more likely to be admitted to hospital and intensive care for Covid-19 than white children and black and mixed/other children are more likely to have had longer hospital admissions.”