February 'step up' for coronavirus vaccines in Wales

Speaking at a Welsh Government press briefing, Mr Gething said Wales currently had 22,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine - which began being rolled out today (Monday) - and "tens of thousands" of doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

"We have our population share," said the health minister. "I don't have in my head the exact figure of Pfizer vaccines available this week, but I think it's in the tens of thousands.

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"The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine: we should get around 40,000 over the next two weeks and I've indicated in the briefing we should have 22,000 that have been delivered to Wales already, ready for vaccination to start from today.

"Now we are expecting production and availability of the Oxford vaccine to be increased more significantly through February and beyond and that also will lead to us being able to scale up our programme significantly.

"You’ll have heard from Dr Gill Richardson, who of course is the former director of public health in the Gwent area, talk about the fact that the limiting factor in the next two weeks is actually the availability of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.

"So we’ll vaccinate many more people over the next two weeks, and then through February we’ll expect to see another further step up with the number vaccinations that are taking place.

"My understanding is there is likely to be a dip in the supply of the Pfizer vaccine at a period of time in the future but will still be able to protect many more people because of the availability of the Oxford vaccine."

Mr Gething was also asked about concerns the Welsh rollout of the Pfizer vaccine was too slow.

"It is inevitable, however, that time is needed to build capacity," he said. "We have been building an infrastructure from the ground up.

"That job is ongoing, especially with the introduction of a role for primary care, but the pace will accelerate.

"Over the next couple of weeks, we will see our vaccination centres grow to 22, more than 60 GP surgeries come on-board and mobile units established in most areas of Wales.

"We also expect to see the number of vaccine doses delivered to health boards grow week on week.

"The consequence of this upscaling is a marked stepping-up of pace and, crucially, greater numbers of our most vulnerable people protected from this awful disease."