COVID-19 Vaccination

Last updated 17 January 2021

COVID-19 vaccination: what should I do?

Please wait to be contacted to be invited for your vaccination. Vaccination is available by appointment only.

Invitation letters are currently being issued based on the national priority list, beginning with invitations to people aged 80 and over.

Patients will be invited based on where you are registered with a GP.
Frontline health and care workers will be invited via your employer based on where you work.

Letters to everyone aged 80 and over registered with a Powys GP have now been, inviting them to a COVID-19 vaccination appointment. All letters should be received by early next week (19 January).

Please don’t contact your GP, pharmacy, health board, hospital or local authority about an appointment.

If you are invited to attend a Mass Vaccination Centre and CAN attend then please DO attend as this will help us vaccinate as many as possible as quickly as possible.

Is COVID-19 vaccination taking place in Powys?

Yes.

COVID-19 vaccination is currently taking place for the first national priority groups:

residents of care homes for older adults
frontline health and care workers
people aged 80 and over

Vaccination is currently taking place in three appointment-only mass vaccination centres in Newtown, Bronllys, and Builth Wells as well as in care homes and hospital wards.

Vaccination will be provided by all 16 GP practices in Powys, and in other domiciliary settings, later this month. This includes a pathfinder clinic for people aged 80 and over registered with Presteigne Medical Centre.

As at 15 January 2021, over 7000 people had received their first dose vaccination through the Powys vaccination programme. Weekly updates on vaccination figures at health board level (and daily updates on figures at an all-Wales level) are published by Public Health Wales.

What COVID-19 vaccines are currently available?

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MRHA) has now approved both the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. We know that we now have two safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines which can be used in Wales.

Both vaccines are being used in Powys, but we have greater quantities of guaranteed supplies of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine which we can only deliver from our mass vaccination centres.

The Moderna vaccine has also been approved by the MHRA, with UK supplies expected in the spring.

Who are the priority groups for COVID-19 vaccination?

Delivery of the vaccination programme in Powys is following guidance from Welsh Government and from the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation:

This means that our current priority groups are:

Priority group 1: residents of care homes for older adults (c. 1000 people in Powys)
Priority group 2: people aged 80 and over (c. 10,000 people in Powys) and frontline health and care workers

Once vaccination of people in these three groups is completed, invitations will be sent to people in the next priority groups. The next priority groups identified by the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation are currently:

Priority group 3: people 75 years of age and over (c. 8000 people in Powys)
Priority group 4: people 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals ("shielding") (c.14000 people in Powys in these two groups combined)
Priority group 5: people 65 years of age and over (c.9500 people in Powys)
Priority group 6: all individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions* which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality
Priority group 7: people 60 years of age and over
Priority group 8: people 55 years of age and over
Priority group 9: people 50 years of age and over

It is estimated that taken together, these groups represent around 99% of preventable mortality from COVID-19. The Committee will also be considering the priorities for the next phase of vaccination once these priority groups have been offered vaccination.

You will be invited based on where you are registered with a GP. For example, Powys residents who are registered with a GP in England will be invited via the vaccination programme in England. The main exception is frontline health and care workers who will be invited via their employer based on where they work.

If you are registered with a GP outside Powys you can find out more about the local vaccination programme from our local health board or clinical commissioning group

Everyone in priority groups 1-4 will receive their invitation by mid February. Everyone in priority groups 1-9 will receive their invitation by the spring.

*Underlying health conditions:

Chronic respiratory disease, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis and severe asthma
Chronic heart disease (and vascular disease)
Chronic kidney disease
Chronic liver disease
Chronic neurological disease including epilepsy
Down’s syndrome
Severe and profound learning disability
Diabetes
Solid organ, bone marrow and stem cell transplant recipients
People with specific cancers
Immunosuppression due to disease or treatment
Asplenia and splenic dysfunction
Morbid obesity
Severe mental illness

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation guidance states that: “those who are in receipt of a carer’s allowance, or those who are the main carer of an elderly or disabled person whose welfare may be at risk if the carer falls ill, should also be offered vaccination alongside these groups.”

We expect further guidance in future from the JCVI on vaccination of the rest of the adult population.

How are people aged 80 and over being contacted for COVID-19 vaccination?

You will receive an invitation when the vaccination programme reaches your priority group. Please don’t contact your GP, pharmacy, health board, hospital or local authority about an appointment.

Invitations are currently being sent to people aged 80 and over during January 2021. With nearly 10,000 people aged 80 and over in Powys it will take some time to arrange all COVID-19 vaccination appointments. Everyone aged 80 and over registered with a Powys GP should expect an invitation letter by 19 January.

You may hear of friends or neighbours who receive their invitation letter before you, but please be assured that your invitation is coming. We need to issue invitations in batches so that all vaccination appointments can be offered in a way that keeps you safe and keeps our staff safe. Thank you for your patience until your invitation letter arrives.

Please accept our apologies that our phone lines have been very busy due to high demand for COVID-19 vaccination. Thank you for your patience and please do keep trying. We are also working hard to expanding our booking and appointment service to make it easier for you to contact us.

We have greater quantities and guaranteed supplies of the Pfizer/BioNTech which we can only use in our mass vaccination centres. If you are able to attend an appointment at a Mass Vaccination Centre we encourage you to take up the invitation. We recognise that travel & transport can be challenging in a large rural county like Powys so please contact us if you need alternative arrangements.

When the vaccination programme for people aged 80 & over is completed, invitations will next be sent to people aged 75 and over. Invitations will then be sent to the next priority group, and so on.

Everyone in priority groups 1-4 will receive their invitation by mid February. Everyone in priority groups 1-9 will receive their invitation by the spring.

We are working very hard to ensure that all those eligible receive their vaccine in turn as supplies are provided to us.

When will people aged 75 and over be contacted for COVID-19 vaccination?

When the vaccination programme for people aged 80 & over is completed, invitations will next be sent to people aged 75 and over. We expect invitations to people aged 75-79 to begin before the end of January, and most people in this group will receive their invitation via a phone call from their GP practice.

Invitations will then be sent to the next priority group, and so on.

Everyone in priority groups 1-4 will receive their invitation by mid February. Everyone in priority groups 1-9 will receive their invitation by the spring.

As more information becomes available to us about vaccine delivery and supplies, we will be able to provide more details of the timetable for inviting other priority groups.

You will receive an invitation letter when the vaccination programme reaches your priority group. Please don’t contact your GP, pharmacy, health board, hospital or local authority about an appointment.

More information about the national COVID-19 Vaccination Programme in Wales:

Understandably, there will be a lot of questions about the COVID-19 vaccine.

You can find answers to most frequently asked questions on the Public Health Wales COVID-19 vaccination information pages.
The national COVID-19 vaccination strategy for Wales is available from the Welsh Government website
Advice on national priority groups is provided by the UK’s independent Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (last updated 30 December 2020)
The latest information about the number of people who have received COVID-19 vaccination in Wales is available from Public Health Wales.

More information about how we are delivering the national COVID-19 Vaccination Programme in Powys:

Frontline health and care employees in Powys:
Please contact your employer in the first instance.
Vaccination for frontline health and care employees in Powys is being offered via employers. We have been contacting employing organisations to provide information to share with their employees.
We want to make sure that no vaccine goes to waste, and so we have asked other health and care staff in service-critical support roles to be on a reserve list. This allows us to call people in quickly at short notice if a frontline worker is unable to attend their appointment.
Residents of Care Home for Older Adults:
We are visiting care homes to provide COVID-19 vaccination to residents. Vaccination for care home residents began in early January.
People aged 80 and over:
People aged 80 and over are being contacted by letter to invite them to book an appointment. Letters are being sent in batches through January 2021, and all letters will be received by 19 January.
Other priority groups:
People in other priority groups will be invited for vaccination in the priority order recommended by the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (last updated 30 December 2020). This next priority group is people aged 75 and over, and invitation letters will be sent following vaccination of the groups above. You will receive an invitation letter when the vaccination programme reaches your priority group. Please don’t contact your GP, pharmacy, health board, hospital or local authority about an appointment.

Establishing the biggest ever vaccination programme is a massive task involving hundreds of staff and volunteers across Powys. Here are just a few examples of the amazing members of the team who are making this happen on our website:

Please note that national factors such as vaccine approval & availability, and changes policy & guidance, may impact on the delivery of our COVID-19 vaccination programme in Powys. This does mean that the information on this page is subject to change. Please keep checking back for the latest information.