MORE than 15,000 people have been given the Covid-19 vaccine in North Wales so far.

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) said at the end of last week, 15,852 people has been vaccinated.

Last week saw a "significant increase" in the number of vaccinations - under BCUHB - being delivered and 9,654 people in the top priority groups received their first dose as part of the roll-out in North Wales.

Teresa Owen, executive director of Public Health, said: "We know initially there was some concern about the supply of vaccine to North Wales in the first few weeks of the programme, but we have always been clear that we will receive our proportion of the vaccine. We have now seen a significant increase in supply and that has been quickly reflected in the overall number of people who have had their vaccine in North Wales.

"All three Mass Vaccination Centres (MVCs) located in Bangor, Llandudno and Deeside are now being used, together with three Hospital Vaccination Centres (HVCs) at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Ysbyty Glan Clwyd and Ysbyty Wrecsam Maelor.

"No other health board has commissioned this number of sites and establishing this scale of delivery has been the programme’s objective over the initial weeks.

"This investment in infrastructure, coupled with the support of GP practices, will enable North Wales to safely delivery significantly higher volumes of vaccinations and confidently provide assurance around meeting any volume and timeline targets."

BCUHB have been given 8,576 doses of the Pfizer BioNTech and 6,300 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine to continue vaccinating:

  • Care home residents and staff
  • People aged over 80, including hospital inpatients
  • High risk frontline healthcare staff
  • Primary care staff
  • Welsh Ambulance Service staff
  • Social care staff

Ms Owen added: "We will continue to deliver the vaccine from our MVCs and HVCs. The aim is to reach as many people as quickly as possible, particularly those group identified as being most vulnerable. The supply of vaccines we receive will also continue to increase in coming weeks to help us do this.

"We are also starting to deliver the vaccine with the support of our primary care partners, and we will share more information about this in the coming weeks. As previously stated, this is particularly important given the large area we cover in North Wales.

"This will be supported by working with community pharmacy teams, who can provide further opportunities for people to get their vaccine as close to home as possible."

By the end of January, BCUHB aim to vaccinate 90 per cent of the following groups:

  • Care home residents and staff
  • 80 years and above
  • BCUHB Frontline staff
  • Domiciliary and social care frontline staff
  • Other care partner frontline staff

To help keep people up-to-date with the vaccination programme, every household in North Wales will receive a letter this week.

Ms Owen said: "This will explain in more detail the list of priority groups that will be vaccinated first, how they will be contacted and other useful information.

"We continue to remind people that they do not need to contact the health board or their GP as they will be contacted by telephone or letter when it is their turn to be vaccinated."