Covid vaccine: Families urged to encourage under-30s jabs

Friends and families need to encourage the under-30s to get a Covid vaccine, a health chief has said.

Wales' deputy chief medical officer for vaccines Dr Gill Richardson said one-in-four 18 to 29-year-olds were not vaccinated and "the health boards can only do so much".

All adults should have been offered a jab, and most health boards now offer walk-in vaccinations centres.

But over 130,0000 under-30s in Wales have not had a vaccine.

Only about 5,500 people under 30 received a first dose in the latest week, down from nearly 7,800 the week before and 13,150 the week before that.

Back in November, only about 35% of positive tests were among the under-30s but that proportion has risen to between 60% and 68%.

Dr Richardson urged those who have not had a vaccine to visit a walk-in clinic at the weekend.

She told BBC Radio Wales: "We need families and partners and friends to encourage that one-in-four. Everybody knows who those one-in-four are.

"If you are in those age groups and you've got a friend that hasn't yet had the vaccine... please just encourage them to go and chat, just go along and have a chat, and discuss any concerns that you have.

"The health boards can only do so much."

She said some people in the age group had "a lot of other things on their minds".

"The Euros for instance, there's all sorts of things, like work and studies and childcare," she said.

She said details of walk-in centres could be found on health board websites.

Dr Bnar Talabani is a doctor and scientist from Cardiff who encourages people to take the vaccine using social media such as TikTok and Instagram.

She said some younger people think they did not need a vaccine because they were young and well, but that did not mean they were safe from Covid.

She said: : "We focus so much on hospitalisation and deaths, which tends to be rare in young people, but sadly it can happen in young people if you're completely healthy and well. We have seen people like that end up in hospital and sadly die.

"But actually, what's more important and what people I don't think have focused on as well, is long Covid, which is just as common in young people as in middle-aged and older people.

"It's a irretractable fatigue so people can't return to work, can't return to university, and are really struggling to return to school - because we've also seen it in children, adolescents - and it's also irreversible organ damage."

The higher case rates among the under-25s has been driving the rates in those local authority areas where they are highest.

The latest Public Health Wales breakdown has shown cases among under-25s across north Wales and in Cardiff in particular continue to have higher incidences.

The highest cases rate for under-25s was in Wrexham with 412.4 cases per 100,000 - that's 165 cases in the last week.

The area has 6,000 young people who have not yet taken up a vaccine.

Wrexham also has above average cases among the over 65s.

Two-thirds of the cases in Cardiff were among the under 25s.