There are worrying discrepancies in the speed of the Covid vaccine rollout between Wales and Northern Ireland, despite the programmes beginning on the same date (December 8, 2020). Andrew RT Davies MS – the Shadow Health Minister – has called the situation “concerning”.
Northern Ireland, with a population almost 60 percent (1.885 million) of Wales’ (3.15m), has seen 99,475* people so far receive both the first and second doses, while Wales has seen 91,336* recipients of both. This equates one in 19 people in Northern Ireland having had both shots, compared to just one in 31 in Wales.
Welsh Conservative Mr Davies said:
“We’re not in competition with Northern Ireland, nor England or Scotland, but we are with the virus. And so to see Wales significantly lagging behind one of our sister nations requires an explanation and some pretty fast action for it to be remedied.
“The Health Minister in Wales was struggling before the pandemic, struggling enough during it to have a separate minister for mental health appointed, and so this underlines further our call for a Vaccines Minister for Wales to manage this very concerning situation.
“Nothing should be off the table in this race against the virus, and that includes round-the-clock vaccination centres.”
*Figures up to date as of January 12, 2021.
