Difference between four nations on vaccine rollout is ‘marginal’, says First Minister

The difference between the four nations of the UK on rolling out the Covid-19 vaccine is “marginal” according to the Mark Drakeford.

The First Minister defended the approach of the Welsh Government when he was asked about suggestions that Wales was “lagging behind” on Sky News.

Mr Drakeford insisted that the difference between the four nations is “marginal” and said that the rollout wasn’t a “sprint” or a “competition”.

According to recent figures, 14,000 people had their first dose of the Covid-19 jab in Wales in the past week, and this takes the numbers on the priority list to have got the Pfizer-BioNTech jab to 49,403 since the rollout started on 8 December.

Wales has a lower proportion of people getting a first dose than the rest of the UK so far.

Around 1.6 per cent of people in Wales have been vaccinated up to 3 January, compared to 2.1 per cent in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and 1.9 per cent in England.

‘Marginal’

Mr Drakeford said: “This is not a sprint, neither is it a competition. So, the difference between the four nations is marginal, and here in Wales our ambition is to use as quickly and as safely as we can every bit of supply of vaccine that comes to Wales, and we’re gearing that up every day.

“On Monday of next week 75 GP practices in Wales will be receiving supplies of the vaccine. It’ll be a 100 by the end of next week. It will be 250 by the end of the month. We have 14 mobile units out vaccinating people in care homes.

“We will publish from Monday a daily number of the people who are being vaccinated in Wales.

“The most enormous effort is being made by our healthcare professionals at a time when they and the health service are under enormous strains to make sure that people in Wales get vaccinated as fast and as safely as we can, and that effort will be stepped up over the weeks ahead