Plans to bring Covid and other immunisations together in Wales

A National Immunisation Framework, part of the Welsh Government’s updated COVID-19 vaccination strategy, has been published today and lays out plans for 2022.

Welsh Health Minister Eluned Morgan says the strategy has “the ambition of delivering world leading outcomes in vaccine preventable diseases. “

It will cover all of Wales’ vaccination programmes including COVID-19 and flu.

The Health Minister said the aim was to encourage high levels of uptake, reduce mortality, ensure equity of access and opportunity, effective deployment and provide value for money.

There have been more than 6.8m doses of COVID-19 vaccinations in Wales.

Over 91 per cent of the over-12 population of Wales have been vaccinated with at least one dose; 86 per cent with at least two doses and 70 per cent with a third dose and/or a booster.

Health Minister Eluned Morgan said:

“Vaccines have had an enormous impact on the course of the pandemic and have helped to weaken the link between the virus, serious illness, hospitalisations and death. They have saved countless lives and given us the freedom and confidence to restart our lives in the midst of an ongoing global health emergency.

“This strategy sets out our plans for 2022 and beyond, including a commitment to deliver a regular COVID-19 vaccination programme while planning for any potential surge capacity, should we need to, in the case of a new pandemic wave or a new coronavirus variant.

“I want to thank everyone who has come forward to be vaccinated and made the decision to protect themselves and others. I also want to thank the many thousands of people working in our vaccination programme including all staff and volunteers.”

Details of a booster campaign for Autumn 2022 will be confirmed at a later stage.

The Fabian Way Covid testing unit in Swansea has moved to Margam.

The unit's carried out around 94,000 tests since being set up last July.

The relocation will allow the Fabian Way Park and Ride site to return to full use as Covid restrictions are eased.

There is also confirmation that digital services for vaccination are now in place including a two-way text rescheduling service, which was launched in November, and an online rebooking service, launched in February.

The online rebooking service has been designed with the intention of having a life beyond the pandemic, to support non-COVID-19 vaccination programmes in the future.