PEOPLE will have to travel to "come to get the vaccine" to receive the coronavirus jab in Wales.

Dr Frank Atherton, the country's chief medical officer, said that issues in transporting the newly approved Pfizer vaccine meant people would have to travel to a central hub in order to receive it.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "At the moment the idea is that people will come to get the vaccine.

“We are concerned, of course, about particularly frail, elderly people living in care homes – they are a very clear priority for us here in Wales – and we’re trying to find ways to get the vaccine to the people, but at the moment that’s the model, that people will be moving towards.”

Asked whether this meant care homes would miss out on being part of the first batch of immunisations, he added: “We have to kind of temper the prioritisation – and absolutely people in care homes, who have suffered quite significantly in the previous waves of coronavirus, are a priority – but we have to temper that with the operational reality of how we can safely manage and deliver the vaccine.

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“We are looking at ways in which we might be able to move the vaccine further down the supply chain and get it closer to people.

“That’s very much work in hand, but at the moment the plan is that we will use mass vaccination centres.”

Care homes are at the top of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s priority list for who should get a vaccine but Professor Anthony Harnden, deputy chair of the JCVI warned logistical issues with the Pfizer jab means there could be a delay in getting it to residents and staff.

He said: “We always understood this on JCVI.

“Our clear remit was to decide on prioritisation groups but that there were going to be vaccine product storage, transport and administration constraints, and individual local circumstances.

“We have advised in our statement that there is flexibility at an approach to this list according to what was actually feasible and logistical on the ground, so this is not wholly unexpected, but the clear list that we have drawn out is a list of priority in terms of vulnerability.”