Covid in Wales: GPs warned about delay to vaccine batch

GPs in north Wales are being advised to consider delaying Covid-19 vaccine appointments early next week due to a hold-up affecting about 26,000 doses.

Betsi Cadwaladr health board, which manages healthcare in the area, said it was a national issue which was expected to be "resolved in the coming days".

The Welsh Government said one Oxford-AstraZeneca batch out of four had been delayed.

It had been due to be shared between Wales' seven health boards.

It said rollout plans were unaffected.

The Welsh Government said it had been assured it would get more Pfizer vaccines by February, despite shipments of it being temporarily slowed because of changes to the company's manufacturing processes.

Four per cent of the Welsh population have received a vaccine so far.

Chris Stockport, executive director primary and community care at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, said the organisation was "notified of a delay in releasing a batch of vaccines which would have disrupted supply nationally in the middle of next week".

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"To help minimise disruption and anxiety, we informed GP practices of this supply issue at the earliest opportunity, and suggested they may wish to delay appointments early next week," he said.

"We expect that this issue will be resolved in the coming days, and we expect a further allocation of vaccines will arrive over the coming week.

"We are now in the process of working with our partners in primary care to minimise any disruption and continue the rollout of vaccinations across north Wales."

UK government figures show 126,375 people in Wales, 4% of the population, have received their first jab so far.

The Welsh Government's vaccine strategy says everyone will be offered a jab by autumn.

It is not known why one of four batches has been held up.

What do GPs say?

Dr Phil White, chair of BMA Wales' general practitioners' committee which represents doctors, said it was "not unprecedented" for a batch of vaccines to be withheld, as happened with flu vaccines in 2019.

He said almost one million flu vaccines have been administered this season, so 26,000 Covid vaccines was a "tiny amount" which would be made up.

"It's really an inconvenience and will lead to some appointments being cancelled but, hopefully, we can make up for that as soon as the batch is replaced," he said.

A Welsh Government spokeswoman confirmed each batch contains about 26,000 doses.

She said it would not affect its plan to vaccinate priority groups by mid-February.

"We were recently notified that one of the four batches of the vaccine we had anticipated receiving this week will be delayed, and not available until the week commencing 25 January," she said.

"This does not affect our overall expected delivery volumes or expectations for hitting the milestones set out in our Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy for Wales."

What's happening with the Pfizer vaccine?

Meanwhile, several EU countries have said they are receiving significantly fewer doses of the Pfizer vaccines than expected after the US company slowed shipments.

But the Welsh Government said it has been "assured" by the UK government that it will receive further Pfizer vaccines by February.

"We are aware of a slowing down in supply from Pfizer's European production which may have implications on the rate at which we can vaccinate more people as we move to administer the second doses," said the spokeswoman.

Wales has received about 250,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and 50,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, according to First Minister Mark Drakeford.

He told Friday's Welsh Government briefing a further supply of Pfizer vaccines was expected in late January or earlier February, along with a "significant upswing in the Oxford vaccine coming to Wales next week".

Regarding the Pfizer vaccine, he said: "What you can't do is to try and stand up a system which uses all the vaccines you've got in week one and then has nothing to offer for the next four weeks.

"That's why you haven't seen it all used in week one because we've got to space it out over the weeks that it's got to cover."

But Paul Davies, leader of the Conservatives in the Senedd, said it was "clear we are lagging behind" the rest of the UK in Covid vaccinations.

He said it was "important now to get those vaccines out to people".

Plaid Cymru has said it makes "little sense" to spread out the vaccines, when "time is of the essence".

"The Welsh Government must set out and make public a clearer and more comprehensive strategy on vaccines," said Plaid's health spokesman Rhun ap Iorwerth.

"This can help ensure that the priority groups are being vaccinated as quickly as possible, so we can move on to other groups of essential workers."