Care home staff and Llandough hospital staff are among the first members of Penarth community to have their initial Covid vaccination doses, with GP surgeries expecting to begin inoculations next week.

Residents in Penarth care homes are yet to receive their first vaccinations.

At a press conference today, NHS Wales Chief Executive Andrew Goodall said the approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine had changed everything.

"The availability of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine this week just changes the dynamics of the way in which the system operates," said Dr Goodall.

"It normalises that we can use our normal practitioners in their normal contacts. We'll be doing this, whether that's in a pharmacy in a GP surgery.

"And that's where we will be able to make the most progress in hitting those early cohorts that have been declared by JCVI, including the over 80s at this stage.

"From a planning perspective, we've been operating a week in advance of the availability of supplies, and what we're hoping to do now with greater certainty is we can start being aware of the supplies for the next two, three, four weeks, we will be able to revert more to an appointment-based system that means that we'll be very clearly working our way through some of those categories," he said.

How are vaccines being delivered in Penarth?

GP Surgeries

In his regular CEO Connects letter, Cardiff and Vale UHB CEO Len Richards said that three practices are trialling the vaccine "to a handful of patients" this week, with a full roll out expected from next Monday [11 January].

Penarth Healthcare Partnership, on Stanwell Road, confirmed it will begin administering the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine from next week.

Practice manager Siân Pugh told Nub News the first Covid inoculation appointments will commence the week beginning 11 January, but could not specify when as it depends on the delivery date of the vaccine to the surgery.

"We are planning the number of patients we can safely vaccinate in a day whilst keeping to social distancing requirements and ensuring all staff and patients are protected," she said.

"Our telephone system does not display our number – we would urge patients to ensure that their telephones receive incoming calls from us.

"We also urge patients to provide us with their mobile numbers so that we can text reminders – we will ask for this information when we telephone.

"We have strict guidance as to who we can invite, we cannot vaccinate patients outside the stipulated cohort which is, currently, the over 80's."

The practice will contact patients by telephone to make bookings for their appointment. Penarth Healthcare Partnership's number is 029 2070 3039.

Albert Road Surgery also expects the health board to deliver vaccines to it next week.

Assistant Practice Manager Kerry-Anne Carter told Nub News: "We are hoping that the health board will be supplying us with vaccines next week and that we will be contacting patients in the over 80 age group to have their vaccinations.

"We would ask that patients not to contact the surgery and that we will contact them in due course."

Care homes

Care home workers at Penarth's Parkside Residential Home have had their first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

Parkside Residential Home manager Alison Alpin said she was expecting doctor's surgeries are to give residents their inoculations.

"Residents haven't had theirs yet, but doctor's surgeries are planning on being the ones to come out and give it," said Alison.

"But we don't have a date yet on when that's going to happen.

"Unfortunately, our residents have dementia, so some of them understand and some of them don't," she said.

Alison told Nub News that her team went to Splott for their first round of vaccinations.

"Doctors gave us the number to ring and then we had to go down to the health centre," she said.

"We've just had our second dose appointments cancelled because they want to get care home residents their vaccines first."

Hospital staff

Staff in higher-risk clinical areas at Llandough Hospital have also had their first dose of the vaccine, but they will now wait longer than expected for their second one.

So far Cardiff and Vale UHB has offered the vaccine to staff working in higher-risk clinical areas as well as those with a greater personal level of risk, including people aged over 60 years of age, those aged 55 and over from a BAME background, as well as those who are shielding.

A doctor at Llandough Hospital, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Nub News: "Even though this means I won't be fully protected for a few more weeks, I think it's a really good idea.

"More of my colleagues will be able to have the first dose, which has been shown to give them some protection.

"It's better for most to have some protection than for a few to have complete immunity."