Fresh plea for over 70s and the clinically extremely vulnerable to book their first COVID-19 vaccination appointment

People who are extremely clinically vulnerable or over the age of 70 who haven’t yet received their first coronavirus vaccination appointment are being urged to contact a dedicated booking centre as soon as possible.

Dr Chris Stockport, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board’s COVID-19 Lead, has made the plea while reinforcing the health board’s commitment to ensure that nobody is left behind in the vaccination programme.

“Our vaccination teams and primary care partners have worked incredibly hard over recent weeks and we can all be rightly proud that Wales was the first UK nation to vaccinate more than 20% of its population,” said Dr Stockport.

“We need the public’s help to ensure that nobody gets left behind. If you are over the age of 70 or you have previously received a formal letter from the Welsh Government advising you to shield because you are clinically extremely vulnerable, and you haven’t received your first coronavirus vaccination appointment, please contact the COVID-19 Vaccination Booking Centre on 03000 840004 to book your appointment.

“We’d also ask that friends, family and neighbours of people who fall into these priority groups check in with them, to ensure they have received their first appointment.

“Our vaccination teams are working through the priority groups and want to ensure everyone is offered an appointment in turn. We know it can be an anxious time but we are absolutely committed to ensuring that nobody gets left behind.

“Additional staffing has been introduced at the vaccination booking centre to deal with an increased volume of calls, but we ask that people are patient with us and persevere if it takes a little longer than expected to get through. The opening hours are 8am to 5pm, seven days per week. It is currently only available for people who are aged 70 or over, or those who are clinically extremely vulnerable.

“If you are not in these priority groups, then we would not be able to book your appointment just yet as that would mean somebody at greater risk being delayed.

“From time to time, if we have cancellations or more vaccine supplied than expected, we may phone people in priority groups to offer them a short-notice appointment. Please be aware of this if you generally do not answer calls from numbers you do not recognise. If you are unable to accept a short notice appointment then you will still be offered an alternative, suitable appointment.”

Wales is the first UK nation to vaccinate more than 20% of its population from Covid.

Mark Drakeford tweeted that it is also ”one of the first countries in the world to do so.”

More than 655,000 people in the top priority groups have been given their first doses of Covid vaccines.

Wales is the first UK nation to vaccinate more than 20% of its population and is one of the first countries in the world to do so.

Huge congratulations to our amazing vaccination teams. Diolch o galon. pic.twitter.com/O5PeuttrHI

— Mark Drakeford (@fmwales) February 10, 2021