Welsh government under fire for 'bewildering' delay to Covid vaccine rollout

Hayley Dixon
·3 min read
Mark Drakeford said supplies of the Pfizer vaccine had to last until the beginning of February and would not be used all at once -  Matthew Horwood/Getty Images Europe
Mark Drakeford said supplies of the Pfizer vaccine had to last until the beginning of February and would not be used all at once - Matthew Horwood/Getty Images Europe
Coronavirus Article Bar with counter
Coronavirus Article Bar with counter

The Welsh government has come under fire for its "truly bewildering" policy of delaying the coronavirus vaccine rollout, with the British Medical Association (BMA) and Number 10 leading the criticism.

On Monday, Mark Drakeford, the Welsh First Minister, defended the slower rollout of the vaccination programme in Wales, saying supplies of the Pfizer jab were being stretched out so that vaccinators were not standing idle.

In the past week, his government has faced criticism for vaccinating fewer people in proportion to its population than the other home nations.

Dr David Bailey, the chairman of the BMA in Wales, said: "For the First Minister to say that there is 'no point' in using all the supplies in a week to ensure vaccinators aren't standing around with nothing to do is truly bewildering." Dr Bailey called on the Welsh government "to stop sitting on supplies and get on with it".

Asked about the slower rollout in Wales, Boris Johnson's press secretary, Allegra Stratton, said the Prime Minister "has always been clear that the British people want to see jabs in everybody's arms as quickly as is sensibly possible" and that he expected the devolved leaders to share that philosophy.

How many people in the UK have received their first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine?
How many people in the UK have received their first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine?

Statistically, Wales is behind the other nations of the UK in delivering the first dose of the vaccine. As of last week, 3,215 per 100,000 had received it in Wales, compared to 3,514 in Scotland, 4,005 in England and 4,828 in Northern Ireland.

Mr Drakeford dismissed the statistics as "very marginal differences", saying supplies of the Pfizer vaccine had to last until the beginning of February and would not be used all at once.

"There will be no point, and certainly it will be logistically very damaging, to try to use all of that in the first week and then to have all our vaccinators standing around with nothing to do for another month," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"The sensible thing to do is to use the vaccine you've got over the period that you've got it for so that your system can absorb it, they can go on working, that you don't have people standing around with nothing to do. We will vaccinate all four priority groups by the middle of February, alongside everywhere else in the UK."

Mr Drakeford said the only thing limiting the rollout was supply and that one of the four batches of the Oxford vaccine that Wales was due to receive this week had failed testing.

Asked about his comments, Ms Stratton said the distribution of vaccine was a matter for devolved administrations although the Government had been "providing significant Armed Forces assistance to Wales" and was ready to provide more if needed.

Paul Davies, the Welsh Conservative leader in the Senedd, said he was "flabbergasted" by the "absolutely preposterous" comments, adding: "This is a matter of life and death, and that's why it's so crucial now that they get these vaccines out to people as soon as possible."

Kirsty Williams, the Welsh education minister, later appeared to backtrack, telling a Welsh government briefing that supplies of the Pfizer vaccine were not being held back but being distributed in a "careful way".

She said 152,000 people in Wales had received their first vaccination – around five percent of the population. A total of 201 people had received a second dose, Public Health Wales confirmed.