Health boards and trusts will lead the Covid vaccination campaign in Wales, with the Welsh chief medical officer set to write ‘shortly’ to set out the full details.
In a statement published today, Welsh health minister Vaughan Gething said this follows months of preparation for a potential vaccination programme.
This saw the chief medical officer write to all health boards and trusts in July to ask them to ‘rapidly progress local plans for delivery of a Covid-19 vaccine’.
The Welsh Government has now reviewed and assessed each plan to ‘ensure each health board and trust has appropriate facilities and equipment to receive, store, prepare and administer vaccines in a safe and controlled manner and plans for rapid deployment through a variety of means (mass immunisation, mobile, occupational and wider primary care)’, the statement said.
It added: ‘The Chief Medical Officer will shortly write again to Health Boards and Trusts to give national direction to the implementation of the vaccination programme.’
Recipients will be prioritised based on the latest list prepared by the JCVI, the health minister said.
The news comes as GPs have been asked to take the lead on the vaccination programme in England, in PCN groupings and funded via an enhanced service.
In Scotland, health boards will take the lead while Northern Ireland are expected to have similar arrangements to those in England, although discussions are ongoing.
