Covid: Wales vaccine supplies to be delayed 'up to four weeks'

Vaccine supplies which were due to arrive in Wales by mid-April will be delivered up to four weeks late, the Welsh government has confirmed.

It comes after NHS England warned of a "significant reduction" in Covid-19 vaccine supplies next month.

But BMA Cymru chairman David Bailey said it "looks like supplies will increase again the following month".

A record number of second doses of a vaccine were given out in Wales on Tuesday, according to latest figures.

The reduction in supply was announced by NHS England in a letter to local health organisations.

It said there had been a "reduction in national inbound vaccines supply" and asks organisations to "ensure no further appointments are uploaded" to booking systems in April.

The BBC has learned no-one who has booked a vaccine should lose a slot, and BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg has been told that fewer AstraZeneca vaccines are available than expected.

A spokesman for the Welsh government said: "We are able to offer vaccinations to as many people in Wales as supply allows. If we have more we could do more.

"We have been informed by the Vaccine Task Force that additional supplies of vaccine, which we were expecting to arrive in the UK before mid-April will now be delivered up to four weeks later than originally planned.

"Significant supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine were delivered to vaccination centres and GPs last week and additional supplies are being delivered this week."

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales, Dr Bailey said Wales and the UK had "done significantly better than most of the rest of Europe".

"We need to make sure we can do the second vaccines for people who were vaccinated early on in January as that will be an issue. But I think we'll still be well ahead," he added.

"The whole issue is around supply and it's important we try and maintain that.

"The longer-term outlook looks like supplies will increase again the following month and we are still on track for vaccinating all adult population significantly earlier than we hoped.

"We're still on track to do two-thirds of the population by the summer."

Tuesday's vaccination figures mean a total of 1,157,251 people in Wales have been given a first dose while 289,185 have had the second dose - the full vaccination course.