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Clwyd West MS critical of Covid vaccine 'stockpiling'


January 18, 2021 - 723 views

Clwyd West MS Darren Millar has called on the Welsh Government to use their supplies of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine following a delay in the delivery of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.

Mr. Millar is disappointed that Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board has told surgeries in the region that they should avoid booking in appointments during the early part of this week due to the delay and has asked for the Welsh Government to use their supplies of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to address this.

He said: "What's disappointing here is that the Welsh Government has hundreds of thousands of doses sat in fridges in Wales that it could be distributing to Betsi and other health boards to get into the arms of vulnerable people to give them protection against the virus."

He said the restrictions on using the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in GP settings "seems to be unnecessary" due to its shelf life of five days after being taken out of storage.

He added: "That's more than enough time for GPs to get through it and give it to their patients."

Speaking during a press conference on Friday, Wales' First Minister Mark Drakeford said the country had had around 300,000 vaccine doses delivered to them.

Mr Drakeford said the figure "in very broad terms" was made up of 50,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and 250,000 of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.