Slow start to Wales’ Covid vaccine roll-out causing ‘upset and anxiety’ for elderly people, says Aberconwy MS

A slow start to Wales’ Covid vaccine roll-out is causing “upset and anxiety” for elderly people, a Senedd Member has said.

Aberconwy MS Janet Finch-Saunders said she had been “bombarded” by older constituents wondering why they had yet to receive an appointment to be immunised against Covid-19.

It follows the Welsh Government missing its target of vaccinating 70% of over-80s by the end of last weekend – a failure which was blamed on the cold weather.

The Welsh Conservative MS said letters setting out timescales for when people would receive it were promised by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, but had not turned up for many residents.

The issue was raised during a Senedd debate tabled by the Conservatives yesterday on the supply and roll-out of Covid vaccines.

Mrs Finch-Saunders said: “I am still being bombarded—my office is as well—from concerned older residents.

“For example, I responded to an e-mail on Tuesday, which referred to a constituent aged 100 years old very worried about her vaccine.

“As two other constituents put it to me: ‘The vaccination roll-out should be done at a sprint, and it is a competition against the virus, which, if lost, could result in thousands of lives lost unnecessarily in Wales.’

“Imagine how my constituents felt when learning that the pledge to vaccine 70 per cent of over-80s by the weekend was missed.

“Imagine how they feel when the local health board promised to open a local vaccination centre in Glasdir, Llanrwst, but cannot even provide an opening date.

“Imagine how they feel when the same health board promised to send a letter to every household in north Wales, but a lot of my constituents haven’t received it.

“Imagine how they feel when they see that Venue Cymru is still not operating seven days a week, and imagine how they feel when friends and family younger than them are receiving vaccines in England, whilst they are still waiting here in Wales.

“They are fearful for their lives, upset, and suffering serious anxiety. And a local GP said to me only yesterday: ‘This is now playing heavily in terms of mental health issues.’

“We all need to see urgent changes, and the Welsh Conservative plan offers that change.”

The motion put forward by Clwyd West MS Darren Millar proposed that the Senedd should thank the UK Government for its “swift action” in securing supplies of the vaccine.

In contrast, it described the Welsh Government roll-out as slow and asked for a five-point plan created by the Welsh Conservatives to be adopted, including the appointment of a vaccines minister and mobilising a “volunteer army” to support the NHS.

Labour MS Rebecca Evans laid an amendment, noting that the roll-out across Wales and the rest of the UK is dependent on security of supply from manufacturers.

She also said that delays in the supply of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine have a direct impact on the roll-out in primary care settings.

Health Minister Vaughan Gething said: “The vaccination programme is our top priority, and we’re doing everything we can to vaccinate as many people as quickly and as safely as possible with the minimum amount of wastage.

“We should all reflect upon how far we’ve come in such a short space of time.

“The vaccines we’re using were only approved in December, with Pfizer in early December and the most recent, Oxford-AstraZeneca, less than a month ago.274

“In Wales, we’re now delivering the fastest growing vaccine programme within the UK, with the quickest rate over the last week of any UK nation, and we’re doing so in line with the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, and we will not be throwing away the independent expert advice of the JCVI, Public Health Wales and the chief medical officer.

“That advice on priority groups is based on protecting and saving the maximum number of lives, and I will not depart from it.”

As of yesterday, he said at least 312,305 people had been vaccinated in Wales.

It represents an increase of more than 22,700 on the previous day’s figures or almost one in ten of the country’s population.

Mr Gething said he wanted to thank all involved for their “Herculean effort”.

He said: “This is the biggest challenge we have faced as a nation in peacetime, and the planning, logistics and mobilisation of people involved has been an immense undertaking. And we do have a robust plan for delivery.

“The roll-out of the AstraZeneca vaccine and the involvement of primary care in administration has meant that we have been able to substantially increase the pace of vaccine delivery, especially over the last two weeks, and we are now vaccinating someone every five seconds, which is a startling figure and shows you something about the pace of our delivery here in Wales.”

The Labour amendment was later agreed following a majority vote in favour.