Covid in Wales: Booster jab 'may be needed to tackle variants'

Booster Covid jabs could be needed in future to tackle coronavirus mutations

"Booster" Covid jabs may be needed in the future when more is known about coronavirus mutations, Wales' Health Minister Vaughan Gething has said.

It comes after a small study suggested the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine offered "minimal protection" against mild disease from the South African variant.

Mr Gething said the people "should take comfort" in jabs being highly effective against the most dominant variants.

A total of 13 cases of the variant have been found in Wales.

Most - 11 of them - have been linked to international travel. The remaining two were found in Conwy and Neath Port Talbot.

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Scientists have begun work in on developing booster jabs to tackle changes in the coronavirus.

A total of 147 cases of the South African variant have been found in the UK - testing has been ramped up in areas of England where it has been found.

More than 600,000 people in Wales have been given their first dose of a Covid vaccine so far as the coronavirus death toll passes 5,000 people in Wales.

At the weekend, Wales overtook the other UK nations for the first time in the percentage of the population getting a first Covid jab dose.

Mr Gething said health officials would "continue to learn and continue to understand" what more was needed to protect people.

"We said from some time out that the virus will mutate," he told a Welsh Government briefing.

The Greek prime minister has suggested British tourists may be welcome with a passport showing they have been vaccinated

"So we know we're going to need to reconsider what we do at various points in time.

"That may mean that in the future we need to have booster programmes or an annual programme as we do with flu every year. But we don't know that for certain yet."

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Meanwhile, Wales' health minister rejected proposals for a vaccine passport.

The Greece prime minister said he would welcome British holiday makers if they could prove they had been vaccinated.

Mr Gething said the discussion was a "distraction", adding: "It might make great headlines for some people but actually it's not very helpful in terms of where we are in the here and now."

The idea has also been rejected by the UK Vaccines Minister, Nadhim Zahawi.

One percent 'vaccinated Friday and Saturday'

Vaccination teams saw 1% of the population of Wales on Friday and Saturday, Mr Gething said.

The pace of the vaccination programme was welcomed by other main opposition leaders in Wales.

But Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies said the Welsh Government had been "stuttering" at the start of the rollout.

"I'd hoped that by shining a light on that slowness, and some of the comments of the first minister and the health minister, we've got where we are to today," he said.

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price said the increase in the vaccination rate was "fantastic".

"I think we should celebrate Welsh success," he said.

"It's down to everyone that has been part of this, and that includes the Welsh Government, should be congratulated for the improvement in the vaccination rate."