Top nine priority groups all offered a coronavirus vaccine, Welsh Government confirms
Everyone in the top priority groups for receiving a coronavirus vaccine has now been offered a first dose by the NHS, the Welsh Government has confirmed.
The administration had been working towards a target of offering those in priority groups five to nine - all those over 50 and those at risk due to underlying health conditions - a coronavirus vaccine by the spring.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: "The second milestone has been achieved, all phase one priority groups have been offered a vaccine by the NHS.
"We are encouraging people in these priority groups who haven’t yet had a vaccine to contact their local health board to arrange it."
The reaching of the latest milestone means that all nine of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation's (JCVI) phase one priority groups have either been vaccinated or have been offered a first dose.
Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives, said the latest reaching of a vaccination target was a "significant milestone".
He said: "This is a true British success story and I would like to thank everyone involved, especially our incredibly hard-working vaccination teams and armed forces who have gone above and beyond delivering the rollout programme."The Conservative Government's bold decision to opt out of the EU scheme has been fully vindicated and ensured Wales has had the vaccines available to meet this target, protect our most vulnerable, and start reopening society. "This is a significant milestone we can all celebrate as we continue on the road to recovery."
Plaid Cymru also welcomed the news but added that there now had to be some more clarity on what it would mean for easing restrictions.
Rhun ap Iorwerth MS, the party's health spokesperson, said: "This milestone is a testament to the hard-work of our wonderful NHS staff and the army of volunteers who have gone beyond the call of duty to ensure Wales is able to reach this target.
"This would not have been possible without them.
"The vaccine roll-out gives us hope and confidence that we are moving in the right direction and it must continue at pace to ensure that the people of Wales are vaccinated as quickly as possible.
"We need to know what this milestone now means for further easing of restrictions.
"I am grateful to the people of Wales for all they have done to get us to this point."
Public Health Wales data published on Monday revealed there have been a further eight suspected coronavirus deaths and 189 new cases.
However, the agency warned the numbers were likely to be higher due to a change in how the numbers are reported over the Easter weekend.
On vaccinations 1,490,372 people have now received a first dose of the coronavirus vaccine; 467,683 have been given a two-dose course.
Dr Giri Shankar, incident director for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: "Mirroring arrangements at Christmas time, we did not publish Coronavirus data on our dashboard on Good Friday (2 April) or on Easter Sunday (4 April).
"We anticipated that the reported case numbers produced on Monday 5 and Tuesday 6 April 2021 would therefore be around double the usual 24 hour figure.
"The reported case numbers for Monday 5 April, which cover the 48 hour period up to 9am on Saturday 3 April, has followed the anticipated trend."
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