THE chief executive of Powys Teaching Health Board has praised “a new milestone” made by the organisation after 5,000 doses of the vaccine were administered in the county last week.

Carol Shillabeer spoke of the “excellent progress” made by the health board – which has handed out 41 per cent of the county’s doses in the last week.

It means 12,000 Powys residents have now received the coronavirus vaccine.

“The Covid-19 vaccination has now reached a new milestone, with 12,000 vaccinations delivered through our programme in the county,” said Ms Shillabeer in the health board’s latest weekly newsletter release.

“When I was writing last week’s newsletter our total stood at just over 7,000 which is excellent progress in just one week.”

She had particular praise for the staff administering the vaccine and Powys residents, in light of challenging weather conditions over the last seven days.

“With the county being battered by Storm Christoph, this total has only been made possible because of the amazing response of the people of Powys,” she added.

“With some people unable to attend their appointment due to flooding or icy conditions, we were quickly able to fill our slots thanks to local residents aged 70+ coming forward to visit our vaccination centres at short notice.

“My personal thanks go to every one of you. Your actions benefit the whole county – appointment slots were filled, vaccine doses were not being wasted, and we continued to vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as possible.

“And if you were unable to attend because of the travel disruption caused by the storms, our booking team is working hard to rearrange this. I know how disappointing it will be for those people affected by the weather and thank you for your patience while we arrange a new appointment for you.”

Ms Shillabeer, who has been health board CEO since 2015, said the relocation of the Mass Vaccination Centre in Newtown and the establishment of a third Powys centre in Builth Wells had played a part in the increase in jabs.

“This week’s big jump in vaccinations is also due to the relocation of our Mass Vaccination Centre in Newtown to Maldwyn Leisure Centre,” said Ms Shillabeer.

“The new facility is a massive boost to our vaccination capacity in the county. Together these developments mean we remain on target to achieve our goal to vaccinate people in priority groups 1 to 4 by mid-February.”

The members of priority groups 1 to 4 who should expect their vaccination appointment by mid-February include:

• Residents of care homes for older adults: nearly all residents have now received their vaccination – there are some residents who should not have the vaccine yet for clinical reasons

• People aged 80 and over: all registered patients aged 80 and over should now have received their invitation

• Frontline health and care workers: information has been sent to employers across the county

• People aged 75 and over: invitations have begun for the GP practice clinics which start from 25 January

• People aged 70 and over: invitations are beginning to some people aged 70 and over and will continue in the days ahead

• People who are “clinically extremely vulnerable”: invitations will begin very soon – and remember that this is a smaller group than the people with underlying health conditions who receive the seasonal flu immunisation

Ms Shillabeer said that the Powys vaccination programme steps up another gear this week with vaccine clinics opening up in all of Powys’ 16 GP practices – with the aim of having 20,000 county residents vaccinated by the end of January.

“Alongside our bigger vaccination centre in Newtown, I am delighted too that we have a further step change in our vaccination programme next week with vaccine clinics opening in all 16 GP practices,” she said.

“Together our GP practices aim to deliver nearly 4,000 vaccine doses by the end of January – which is now just a few days away. I am hopeful that by my next newsletter in a week’s time we will be heading towards 20,000 people vaccinated in the county.

“On travel and transport, the opening of GP practice clinics this week will bring more access closer to home for more people.

“We continue to make progress providing vaccination to people who are clinically housebound. And I am also grateful for the support of PAVO, local community transport organisations, volunteers, and the mutual aid from people in local communities which together is a great demonstration of how ‘Team Powys’ responds to the challenge of setting up the biggest vaccination programme the country has seen.

“I do still encourage everyone who can take up an appointment at a mass vaccination centre to do so – these are the only locations where we can deliver our guaranteed supplies of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.”