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Covid-19 in Wales: Vaccinations will take months, minister says

EPA Vial of Covid vaccineEPA
Front-line NHS staff and the over 80s are at the top of the list for the vaccine

It could take months before some people receive a vaccine against Covid-19, according to the health minister.

Vaughan Gething called on people to avoid "going back to the old normal before the vaccine has given us the protection we need".

The first people to get the coronavirus vaccine in Wales will get the jab on Tuesday.

Front-line NHS staff and the over 80s are at the top of the list for the vaccine.

"It will take months with more than one vaccine needed to come on board before we can protect everybody," Mr Gething told BBC Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement.

"The message is there's hope so please stick with it for another few months to get us to the spring, the early summer, when we think we could have population coverage and population protection."

Health expert Dr Eleri Davies, from Public Health Wales, told Dewi Llwyd programme on BBC Radio Cymru there was hope a "high percentage" of front-line workers and those who fall into the vulnerable category would be vaccinated by "spring to early summer".

She went on to say that she was "sceptical" that everyone would receive the vaccine within that time frame but hopes that "many will".

Welsh Conservative leader in the Senedd Paul Davies has called on First Minister Mark Drakeford to appoint a vaccines minister to ensure the process runs smoothly.

On Sunday, the UK government announced a further 17,272 confirmed Covid-19 cases while Public Health Wales recorded 1,916 new cases in Wales and 14 deaths.

The local authority area with the highest case rate is Neath Port Talbot, with 556.8 people for every 100,000 of its population testing positive for Covid in the past seven days.

Test centre workers on standby
Mass coronavirus testing runs until 20 December in the Lower Cynon Valley

A total of 741 people attended test centres in the Lower Cynon Valley in Rhondda Cynon Taf on Saturday as a second mass testing programme was launched to cut transmission rates in Wales.

Jeremy Miles, the Welsh minister responsible for the coronavirus recovery, said Covid-19 rates had "gone up faster than perhaps we had hoped" since Wales' firebreak lockdown ended in November.

"The best way to respond to that is for people to continue to follow the rules, and not just the letter of the rules, but also the spirit of the rules," he told BBC Politics Wales.

On Sunday, Ceredigion council urged residents to follow coronavirus guidelines such as social distancing following an increase in cases in Lampeter and Dyffryn Aeron.

It said there had been in excess of 35 cases in the past week, with contact tracers reporting transmission of Covid-19 in social gatherings and workplaces.