Covid: Wales first UK nation to fully vaccinate 50% of people

Wales has become the first UK nation to fully vaccinate more than half of its entire population, latest figures show.

In total 1,591,322 of people (50.5%) have now received both Covid-19 jabs, Public Health Wales (PHW) said.

Wales is now fifth in the world for the proportion of people fully vaccinated, and leads the world for the percentage of people given a first dose (71.3%).

It comes as the Welsh government delayed easing restrictions as case rates continue to rise.

The national case rate - 37.6 per 100,000 people - is at its highest level since March after a further 336 cases were reported on Friday by PHW.

With Covid case numbers across Wales now doubling every seven to ten days, First Minster Mark Drakeford confirmed lockdown restrictions would remain as they are for a further three weeks.

Mr Drakeford said: "There is some positive research evidence emerging that despite the speed at which the delta variant is spreading, vaccination is helping to prevent serious illness.

"This is why are working so hard to speed up the vaccination programme while we have temporarily paused any further changes to the restrictions and why we are encouraging everyone to have two doses of the vaccine.

"Take-up rates have been fantastic and, overall, people have been really enthusiastic about the vaccine.

"But there are some small signs of hesitancy among the 30 to 39 age group.

"Health boards are working hard to make clinics and appointments as flexible as possible, we are encouraging employers to give staff the time off to be vaccinated and we are also continuing to work with particular communities and groups to maximise their protection."

The latest data shows that Wales remains ahead of the other UK nations in the total proportion of the population given a first and second jab.

Scotland had given first doses to 67.6% of its population and 48.2% had received a second.

Northern Ireland had given first doses to 60.7%, while 43.9% had been given both doses.

England had given 65% their first does and 47.7% their second.

The latest data published for the rest of the world is due to be released later on Friday.

For countries with populations of more than one million, Wales has been ahead of every nation in the world for first jabs since mid-May.

For second doses of the vaccine, Thursday's data shows Wales is in fifth place among nations with more than one million people, behind Israel (59.6%), Bahrain (54.7%), Mongolia (52.3%) and Chile (51%).

We have to bear in mind the vaccine figures published in Wales, unlike in England, are not "real-time".

It takes up to five days after a person receives a dose for the data to be published.

GPs are asked to input data into the NHS Wales-built system as soon as possible but it then has to be verified and quality-assured by PHW - to ensure people are not double-counted, for instance - before it is actually published.

So there is a built-in lag between what health bosses are seeing happening daily and when we see the figures.

One health official said they were under-reporting rather than leaving "any chance of over-reporting".

Ministers, however, have access to "real-time" data as soon as it is in the system so have an idea what is going on, on the ground.