Covid vaccine: Betsi Cadwaladr boss warns against queue jumping

A health board boss has criticised council staff for potentially sharing Covid vaccine invites with colleagues.

The board meeting in North Wales heard some council staff, not within groups currently being vaccinated, booked appointments by following a link in an email only intended for the recipient.

Betsi Cadwaladr health board's chairman Mark Polin said such actions could deprive someone else of a jab.

Denbighshire council said it had warned staff the emails were not to be abused.

It is not clear if anyone not entitled succeeded in getting a Covid jab, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Only front-line social care and health workers, those over 80 and 70 years old, care home residents and their carers are currently being vaccinated.

Independent member Jackie Hughes spoke about the matter at Thursday's monthly health board meeting.

Answering her query, Dr Chris Stockport, the health board's executive director of primary care and community services, said: "We are very clear with our local authority partners and teams of what frontline means in the same way we are elsewhere.

"When you arrive [for a vaccine] there's a process of validation.

"The likelihood is they will experience some difficulties working through the booking system [if they try to get into a higher vaccination cohort].

"It adds complications for a busy team and I would ask them not to do that when it's a clear effort to circumvent the cohort."

At Thursday's daily press briefing the UK Government Home Secretary Priti Patel said people who jumped the queue for the vaccine were "morally reprehensible" as they were putting the lives of vulnerable people at risk.

She said all the UK Government's measures were under review but "our focus is getting that vaccine to the most vulnerable to make sure we can protect them and obviously protect others in the community".

Mr Polin added: "Whilst we understand the concerns people should not be doing what they are doing.

"The priority groups have been identified with clear medical guidance and sound reasoning behind it.

"So people jumping the queue are depriving someone else, potentially, of receiving the vaccine at the point at which they should."

He said it was a temporary problem, adding: "We are changing the booking system, so this opportunity is not going to last much longer."

He said staff were looking out for any inappropriate bookings.