People who refused the coronavirus vaccine and have now changed their mind being urged to come forward

Those who have yet to be vaccinated and have changed their mind or want to find out more about the coronavirus vaccine are being encouraged to come forward.

More than one million vaccines have been delivered to people living or working in North Wales since the rollout began in December 2020.

Although everyone who is eligible across the region has already been offered the chance to be vaccinated, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is now contacting people who have not taken up the opportunity.

On Tuesday alone call centre staff at the health board made contact with 1,513 people to offer appointments and only 111 accepted them.

Gill Harris, executive director of nursing and midwifery, said: “We recently celebrated reaching the incredible milestone of more than one million vaccinations being delivered to people living or working in North Wales.

“This has had a significant impact on protecting people against COVID-19. We know that far fewer people are dying with COVID-19 or requiring hospital treatment for the virus, compared to the first and second waves.

“There are still people, however, who have not yet had a vaccination and we are still making every effort to encourage them to do so. We have already contacted everyone in North Wales to invite them to be vaccinated and continue to do so.

“While we know there will be people who simply do not want the vaccine in these remaining pockets of the population, but we will continue to encourage them to do so as we prepare to move on to the next phase of the programme.

“We would like to repeat out appeal for everyone who is eligible to come forward and get vaccinated.

In terms of what’s next for the vaccine rollout, Ms Harris added: “We are still waiting for final advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on the scope of the COVID-19 booster programme. When we get this we will need to make final preparations before inviting people to an appointment.

“We would ask those who are eligible for the booster vaccine to be patient and remember there is no need to contact us to book an appointment, as we will contact you directly when it is your turn.

“Due to the way in which the COVID-19 and Flu vaccinations are delivered and the expected start dates for the respective campaigns, it will not be standard practice to give people these jabs at the same time.

“We will share more information about both the booster programme and the Flu vaccination campaign once they have been developed.”

More information about who is eligible to receive the vaccine and how to book an appointment can be found on the health board’s website here.