Covid: Rural GPs to run new vaccine hubs amid roll-out criticism

Rural GPs are to run new community vaccination centres after concerns over the speed of the roll-out in Wales.

From Saturday, three new vaccination hubs will open to give over-80s and those with mobility issues the jab.

It comes after some living in rural areas said they had been told to travel miles to get the jab or wait weeks to have their first dose.

Health Minister Vaughan Gething said it would help immunise hundreds of over-80s this weekend.

There has been criticism of the speed of the roll-out in Wales, with some telling the BBC elderly and housebound relatives had been told there would be a wait if they could not get to their GP surgery.

A total of 212,317 people have been given their first dose of vaccine in Wales, up to 21 January - just over 6.7% of the population.

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The Welsh Government hopes to have 70% of over-80s immunised by the end of this weekend.

By 21 January, 30% of the over-80s and 60% of care home residents had been given the first dose.

On Saturday, the Welsh Government announced doctors surgeries in rural areas would join forces to help administer the jab to the elderly and vulnerable.

The first of the new community centres, run by clusters of GP practices, are to open on the Llyn Peninsula, in Buckley in Flintshire, and Bridgend.

They will be able to administer both the Pfizer-BioNTech and the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines.

Until now, the Pfizer vaccine could only be administered at special mass-vaccination centres, due to the low temperatures it needs to be stored at.

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The Welsh Government said it hoped 3,000 people would get the vaccine administered at the centres this weekend.

Health Minister Vaughan Gething said: "Vaccination is our top priority so I want to thank all the GP practices right across Wales that are working in unison to set up these new community vaccination centres.

"This enables GPs to use both of the vaccines available to us and will help more people to be vaccinated somewhere that is much closer to home than the large vaccination centres.

"Every week, our vaccination programme speeds up as more centres are opened and more vaccines are available for the small army of healthcare professionals administering vaccines."

In north Wales, a group of GPs have formed a group to deliver about 1,000 vaccines to elderly and vulnerable people.

Dr Eilir Hughes, a GP at Ty Doctor Surgery, Gwynedd, said rural GPs had faced a "real challenge" to get the most vulnerable patients vaccinated as soon as possible.

The surgery is about 50 miles away from the nearest vaccination centre in north-west Wales.

He said bringing three GP practices together to vaccinate hundreds of patients in two days was a "Herculean effort".