Covid: Care home residents to get vaccinations in pilot

A pilot programme to roll out the Pfizer/Biontech vaccine to Welsh care homes will begin this week.

Residents in a home in north Wales will get the vaccine on Wednesday, with teams going to health boards elsewhere later this week.

It follows discussions with medical regulators about how the vaccine can be moved safely.

Health Minister Vaughan Gething said if all goes well more would have the jab before Christmas.

Welsh officials had previously not been able to say when vaccinations of care home residents would begin, despite the group being a priority for the vaccine programme.

Speaking at the Welsh Government press conference on Monday, Mr Gething said the start of the vaccine rollout to care home residents was "good news".

But he struck a note of caution, saying the vaccine had to be repackaged into smaller quantities "under strict conditions", with the vaccine stored at "ultra-low temperatures".

"If all goes well this week, we will roll out care home vaccination at greater pace ahead of Christmas - bringing a new level of protection to some of our most vulnerable people," he said.

The Welsh Government said the vaccine will be issued to care homes close to hospital pharmacies, but it is planned for the vaccine to be available in other settings in coming weeks.

It said it had discussed with the vaccine manufacturer and UK regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA,) how to repackage the vaccine.

Care home residents began to receive the vaccine in Scotland on Monday.

When the vaccine rollout started, Mr Gething said it would not be safe to get the jab to care homes because of the nature of the vaccine and because they needed to use a small number of distribution centres.

The vaccine needs to be kept at -70c.

"If it's not in those conditions, it starts to thaw," Mr Gething said.

"And the problem there is that there are a limited number of storage facilities, and to transfer it from that storage facility to a centre for distribution and delivery means that it's thawing as you're moving it."

But the situation has since changed - the Scottish Government said on Sunday that it had confirmation from Pfizer that the vaccine could be "packed down" into smaller pack sizes, allowing it to go to care homes.

Mario Kreft, owner of two north Wales care homes and chair of Care Forum Wales, welcomed the news.

"Hopefully, you know, this is the beginning of something that's really going to change the face of what we've been up against for 10 months now," he said.

"Of course we want it rolled out everywhere as soon as possible but it's got to start somewhere."

His understanding was that Betsi Cadwaladr's arrangements for the vaccine had been ahead of other health boards.

Mr Kreft said although care homes had been prepared, the second wave has been "more dangerous" without the benefit of a full lockdown.

"The vaccine can't come soon enough," he added.