Wales on track to meet next vaccine target, says Health Minister

By Ellyn Wright

5th Mar 2021 | Local News

Health Minister Vaughan Gething spoke at a press conference today
Health Minister Vaughan Gething spoke at a press conference today

Health Minister Vaughan Gething has said that Wales is on track to meet the next Covid vaccination target.

Speaking at a press conference today Mr Gething said that the Welsh Government is expecting a further increase in vaccination supplies in the coming days so it can accelerate the delivery of vaccines to people in groups five to nine.

The Health Minister also said that they were getting close to delivering the millionth first dose.

"We remain on course to meet our target of offering vaccination to everyone in this group by the middle of next month," said Mr Gething.

Wales currently has the best vaccination rate in the UK and a greater proportion of people in Wales have had both doses of the vaccine in Wales than in any other part of the UK.

To date, Cardiff and the Vale University Health Board has administered 134,749 first and 24,001 second doses of the vaccine.

Of groups 5-7, all those 60-69 or over and individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality, CAVUHB has given 32,718 first and 1,021 second doses.

The target for these groups to be completed is Monday 19 April and the healthboard met the previous target of vaccinating groups 1-4 by mid-February.

The health minister said it was all "really positive" and suggested that Wales is over the worst of the second wave of the virus, but warned that people should not "let their guard" down.

"We will be taking a careful and gradual approach towards lifting the restrictions, starting with our priority of getting children back into school," he said.

"The public health situation is continuing to improve across Wales as cases of coronavirus fall.

"Overall, the seven-day average rate has reduced to around 50 cases per 100,000 people – and all local authority areas in Wales are continuing to report fewer than 100 cases per 100,000 people.

"This is the lowest rate we have seen across Wales since mid-September.

"The R number remains below 1 and the positivity rate has fallen to 5.4%.

"The number of people with confirmed coronavirus in our hospitals is also falling.

"The latest figures show the overall number of people in hospital with coronavirus continues to fall and yesterday there were fewer than 450 people with confirmed coronavirus in hospital across Wales – the lowest number since 17 October.

"As more people are vaccinated in Wales, we may be seeing a faster-than- anticipated fall in the number of people admitted to hospital."

     

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