The Local Vaccination Centre (LVC), which has opened at Glyndwr University in Wrexham, is providing hope for residents who are looking forward to life beyond Coronavirus. The LVC, housed in the University's Catrin Finch Centre, was open for three days last week and administered up to 300 vaccines per day. Moving forward, it will be open for up to six days a week, providing important capacity for vaccinations in Wrexham.
Today (Thursday 4th February), I was invited to visit the LVC at Catrin Finch, where I witnessed first-hand the excellent work going into vaccinating many Wrexham residents. It was good to see that the centre was busy, with staff and patients alike pleased with the processes in place. This bodes well for the next few weeks: it will be vitally important that the vaccination process continues like this to ensure that we can start lifting restrictions once it is safe and sensible to do so.
The LVC in Wrexham complements a network of vaccination centres across North Wales, including the Mass Vaccination Centre (MVC) at Deeside Rainbow Hospital and GP surgeries. Last week, I was invited to meet the team at the Deeside MVC who explained the complexities of such a large rollout, whilst also providing an insight into how the vaccination process will continue. I was pleased to hear that the vaccine supply lines through the next fortnight have been secured, allowing the rollout across North Wales to continue in the knowledge that plans should not be disrupted.
Further, having held meetings with GP surgeries in the Wrexham area, I know that they have also been especially useful in the rollout and I thank them for all they have done too.
As of 3rd February, over 460,000 people in Wales had received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, and I am thrilled to hear that the Welsh Government and Betsi Cadwaladr are assured they will reach the target of vaccinating the top four priority groups by the middle of the month.
Significantly today (Thursday 4th Feb), Betsi Cadwaladr became the first Health Board in Wales to administer over 100,000 vaccines, including to 34,047 over-80s, 13,045 care home residents and workers, and 20,000 health care workers. It is also worth noting that since the end of January, Wales has been administering the most doses per 100 people of all four nations of the United Kingdom. Given previous concerns about the rate of the vaccine rollout in Wales, this is a commendable feat and my congratulations go to all that have been involved in this.
However, some in the top priority groups may still be waiting for a vaccine appointment and those people should contact the Betsi Cadwaladr vaccination booking centre on 03000 840004. Currently, this is only for persons over-80 who have yet to be invited to an appointment.
Betsi Cadwaladr have also advised that should you receive an invitation to a vaccine appointment at a vaccination centre and a local GP surgery you should not call the 03000 number above to cancel either appointment. Any duplicate appointments will be captured by the booking system, and the vaccines team will make sure that no vaccines go to waste by utilising a standby list.
Finally, my team and I will be on hand to help with any constituent enquiries about the rollout, so please do not hesitate to contact me on email at sarah.atherton.mp@parliament.uk, or by telephone on 01978 291742
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