Vaccination newsletter 8th of April 2021

Close up of a vial labelled Covid vaccine held between two fingers on a gloved hand.

Welcome to the latest edition of our weekly newsletter, 8th of April 2021, which brings you up to date with where we are with the roll out of the Covid vaccines across Swansea and Neath Port Talbot.

Apologies for the delay in getting the newsletter to you this week, we wanted to make sure we shared the very latest information we have on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

We may have been having flurries of snow here in Swansea Bay but that hasn’t put a freeze on our vaccination programme.

We’ve now offered everyone over the age of 50 who was identified on our database a first dose of vaccine in Swansea Bay, and started offering vaccinations to the general cohort, of people age 16-49. We’ve begun by calling the oldest in this group (40-49 years old).

We’re still encouraging anyone who thinks they have been missed from these groups to get in touch – details on how to do this are include below. There are genuine reasons why sometimes we don’t know of individuals (they may have moved into the area, changed their address or given incorrect contact details, for example) so please accept our apologies if we haven’t invited you and we should have. There is a vaccine available for everyone so please let us know.

We also recognise that circumstances and viewpoints change – so if you initially declined an appointment, but have changed your mind, then that’s fine too.

We’ve vaccinated the majority of unpaid carers who completed our online form; however we are aware that a few people are still waiting to be contacted. Unfortunately some people didn’t include contact details on the form, or input the wrong date of birth meaning that we can’t find them. Around 50% of the forms that were completed have been forwarded to GPs to vaccinate and the remainder have been vaccinated through our centres. If you haven’t heard from us, then please let us know on the details below and we will be in touch.

Behind the scenes we are investigating the issue of why some people have not attended their vaccination appointments without letting us know first – known as Did Not Attend (DNAs) - and we are reviewing the geographical data we’ve collected. We’ll be using our findings to target our approach as much as possible. In the meantime, we are putting on extra clinics to use doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine leftover due to DNAs.

Nationally, there have been positive moves in Wales as neighbouring health board Hywel Dda has begun to vaccinate with the Moderna vaccine. We’ll keep you posted if/when this vaccine comes into use here in Swansea Bay.
There has been lots in the news too about the rare blood clot risk linked to the Oxford-AstraZeneca. Our team is closely monitoring this situation and continuing to follow the very latest advice issued in the UK.

That’s a great overview of where we are. But there’s plenty more to tell you so let’s get cracking.

Latest figures

Please note: figures correct as of 2pm on Wednesday, April 7th, 2021. These figures are for the Swansea Bay University Health Board area, not the whole of Wales.

1^st dose: 186,761

2^nd dose: 57,124

Doses given in GP practices (first and second doses): 68,463

Running total (1^st and 2^nd doses): 243,885

Had your vaccination? That’s great! But remember you still need to socially distance

Please continue to keep a two-metre distance from people you don’t live with, wash your hands frequently and wear a face-covering in enclosed public spaces. Why? Because the vaccination takes two-three weeks to begin to protect you, so you are still vulnerable. Also, you could still catch the virus and pass it on to others without knowing it, particularly if you don’t have symptoms.

So please don’t throw caution (or your face-covering) to the wind after you’ve had your jab. Keep on playing it very safe to ensure we keep the spread of the virus down and get back to normal as soon as we can.