Covid vaccination rollout: How is Wales leading the UK and the world?

More than half of 18 to 29-year-olds in Wales have had at least one dose of a vaccine

A higher proportion of Wales' population has had a dose of a Covid vaccine than any other country with more than a million people.

It is quite the contrast with January, when questions were being asked about the sluggish start to vaccinations.

People aged 30 and 31 in England are being invited to book to have their first dose of Covid vaccine, while in Wales more than half of 18 to 29-year-olds have had at least one dose of a vaccine.

So what explains the difference?

According to Paul Mainwood, a strategy consultant, former academic and "amateur vaccine sleuth", Wales took a risk and that risk has paid off in a big way.

How's the vaccine roll out going in Wales?

In some parts of Wales, more than two-thirds of people in the 18 to 29-year-old age group have been given a first dose, including Conwy county (72.1%).

Wales is also pushing on with its second doses and has set daily records over the past two days, including 20,715 second doses on Wednesday.

A total of 2,120,049 people (67.2%) have now been given a first dose of a vaccine and 1,058,464 people (33.6%) have had a second jab, according to Public Health Wales (PHW) figures.

After the slow start, Wales had caught up with England and Scotland by early February, and since 7 April it has been ahead of all the other UK nations.

The Welsh government expects all adults to have been offered a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine "over the next couple of weeks" - more than a month ahead of schedule.

Along with other UK nations, Wales had committed to offering a first dose to all over-18s by the end of July.

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While the UK government has arranged supplies of vaccine, the distribution programme in Wales is the responsibility of the Welsh government and NHS Wales.

A network of vaccination centres and GP surgeries have been giving the vaccine to people in Wales since December.

While the Welsh government has not set a new date for when all adults will have been offered a first dose, a spokesperson confirmed the original target of 31 July would now be met in June.

A walk-in vaccine centre has been opened in Cardiff to vaccinate people who had not yet come forward

One Welsh health board covering the capital city has already offered first vaccination appointments to all adults.

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board has begun offering walk-in appointments at the Bayside vaccination centre in Cardiff Bay.

So how has Wales managed it?

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's More or Less programme, Mr Mainwood said Wales uses more of its vaccine allocation and delivers them into people's arms within a couple of days.

He said this was in stark contrast to other UK nations, including Scotland, which takes between 10 and 12 days to deliver the vaccines to people.

Mr Mainwood said there were risks to "running with a very low stock holding", like Wales is doing.

Despite the encouraging rollout in Wales, there are signs of more no-shows among younger people

If people have their first dose appointment cancelled, there is a chance they may not be "found" again. "You really need to be as reliable as possible," he explained.

And with second doses, it is important to have enough doses available when they become due. But the risk had "so far paid off," Mr Mainwood said.

The "separation of strategy" between Wales and the rest of the UK came towards the end of February, when it began taking the vaccine allocation very quickly and started administering second doses, he explained.

This had the effect of "building a bit of cover" in terms of fully vaccinating the most vulnerable groups early, which allowed a quicker acceleration of the first dose roll out to the rest of the population.

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And another thing Wales is doing differently is to move through the age cohorts more quickly than other parts of the UK. In Scotland, Mr Mainwood said, there is a slower progression through the cohorts, but greater uptake than in Wales.

"Wales has raced down a bit and have much lower uptake percentage in those top ones, but are starting to do people in their 30s and their 20s now," he said.

Mr Mainwood added: "There are lessons the rest of the country should be learning from Wales."

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