UK secures 60 million doses of Pfizer vaccine for autumn booster programme

An extra 60 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have been secured by the UK government to help support the booster COVID-19 vaccination programme beginning from the Autumn.

The UK government says it is preparing for a booster programme to protect the most vulnerable ahead of the winter.

The additional Pfizer/BioNTech jabs will be used alongside other approved COVID-19 vaccines for the booster programme.

This comes as new data from Public Health England shows that one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine reduces household transmission of the virus by up to half.

Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said: “We are doing everything we can to make sure the most vulnerable are protected from COVID-19 now and in the future.”

“Our brilliant Vaccines Taskforce has secured an extra 60 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines to support our booster programme, which will be developed in line with the advice of our experts.”

“In the meantime, we are making great progress with our vaccination rollout and I urge everybody to get their vaccines as soon as they are eligible.”

Overall, the UK has secured access to 517 million doses of eight of the most promising COVID-19 vaccines. These are:

• Pfizer/BioNTech for 100 million doses – including the additional 60 million doses
• Oxford/AstraZeneca for 100 million doses
• Moderna for 17 million doses
• Janssen for 30 million doses
• Novavax for 60 million doses
• Valneva for 100 million doses
• GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi Pasteur for 60 million doses
• CureVac for 50 million doses

Around 70% of adults in North Wales have now received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine Gill Harris, Executive Director of Nursing and Midwifery at Betsi Cadwaladr health board has said.

“We remain on course to offer vaccination to the remaining adult population well before the Welsh Government’s end of July milestone.

We are continuing to work as quickly as we can with the supply we have and I would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding as we continue to make good progress in working through this complex programme.” She added:

Vaccination progress as at April 26^th 2021:

• 565,799 total vaccinations have been administered in North Wales
• First dose vaccines – 388,904
• Second dose vaccines – 176,895

Percentage of people in Priority Groups who have received a first dose:

• People aged 65  to 69: 93 per cent
• People aged 16 to 64 in an at risk group: 84 per cent
• People aged 60 to 64: 88 per cent
• People aged 55-59: 85 per cent
• People aged 50-54: 83 per cent
• People aged 40-49: 35 per cent
• People aged 30-39: 9 per cent
• People aged 18-29: 14 per cent

A detailed breakdown of the North Wales COVID-19 Vaccination Programme can be found on our vaccinations statistics.

Who we are currently vaccinating and how they will be contacted

This week we are continuing to provide vaccination to the following groups, with invitations made by letter, text message and phone call:

• People in Priority Groups 1-9 who were unable to receive their vaccination when it was first offered. This includes people aged 50+; people aged 16-64 with certain underlying health conditions; unpaid carers; and those living with people who are immunosuppressed
• People aged 18-49 years (Priority Group 10)

If you have any concerns about receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, please still attend your appointment so we can take the time to discuss these with you before you make a decision on whether or not to go ahead with vaccination.

Second dose appointments

It is important people receive both doses of the vaccine in order to receive the best protection from COVID-19.

In line with advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) there is currently an 11 week gap between administering first and second doses.

We ask people to be patient in waiting for their second dose invitation. However, anyone who has been waiting more than eleven weeks for their second dose appointment should contact:

• Their GP if they received a first dose at a GP surgery
• Our COVID-19 Vaccination Contact Centre on 03000 840004 if they received their first dose anywhere else. The lines are open Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm and Saturday to Sunday, 9am to 1pm.

Please be patient and only call if it has been 11 weeks since your first dose and you have not yet had an appointment for your second.