Wrexham hospital among first in UK to receive Pfizer Covid vaccine shipment
Wales has become one of the first countries to receive and store the Pfizer vaccine after the first shipment was delivered in Wrexham ahead of a nationwide roll-out on Tuesday.
Wales' health minister Vaughan Gething said from tomorrow, every health board in the country will begin to vaccinate people.
"We will be starting tomorrow and there will be opportunities to see those taking places. Vaccinations we get will provide to just under 19,000 people with our share of that."
The Pfizer vaccine, which has 90% efficacy and was approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for use in the UK, needs to be stored at around -70C and moved carefully.
The first set of Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines arrived at hospitals in the UK on Sunday, with Croydon University Hospital among the first to receive them.
The UK has ordered 40 million doses of the jab, enough to vaccinate 20 million people with the required two doses.
There are 800,000 doses in the first tranche, meaning 400,000 people will be vaccinated initially.
Special storage containers will be used to ship the vaccine, with GPS trackers to remotely monitor its temperature. While Pfizer has designed a suitcase-sized container that will keep the doses at ultra-low temperatures for up to 10 days using dry ice.
Dr Frank Atherton, the Chief Medical Officer for Wales, stressed there will only be ''relatively small amounts'' of the vaccine at first.
The First Minister Mark Drakeford, described the news as a ''small glimmer of light'' at the end of ''a long and dark tunnel,'' but also urged people to continue following measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
Who will get the vaccine?
The vaccine will initially be prioritised for the most vulnerable or on the frontline, meaning those working in health and social care, aged over 80 or those working or living in a care home.
They will be invited to designated centres to get immunised as it needs to be be stored at around -70℃ and used on site. The centres have already been decided by health boards.
Wales' Chief Medical Officer emphasised that it would be "well into next year" before most of the population had access to the vaccine.