FIRST Minister Mark Drakeford has confirmed that the latest vaccine to be approved in the UK will not be rolled out in Wales in the immediate future.

Last week, Johnson & Johnson's Janssen vaccine was approved for use in the UK by the medicines regulator.

The vaccine is a single dose vaccine, and provides was 85 per cent effective in stopping severe illness from Covid-19 in trials.

READ MORE:

The UK has ordered 20 million doses of the vaccine, but Mr Drakeford said he could not yet give a date on when it will be rolled out.

"The Johnson & Johnson vaccine does indeed offer a one-dose solution to coronavirus and is therefore particularly useful for, for example, housebound populations where you need a very large organisation to be able to go visit, come back and visit the second time," said Mr Drakeford.

"There are genuine possibilities that that vaccine offers.

"We are part of the UK government's effort to secure vaccine for the United Kingdom.

"In the forward schedules of supply of vaccine coming to Wales - and we get them weeks in advance - I am yet to see any supply identified from that source ready to come into Wales.

"We continue to plan our programme on the basis of Oxford/AstraZeneca, the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines. If and when Johnson & Johnson becomes available to us, it will offer us some important new possibilities."