MORE than 35,000 vaccines have been administered in Wales, Public Health Wales have confirmed.

In its latest release, PHW confirmed - as of 8am on December 27 - 35,335 vaccination doses had been given out by Welsh health boards.

This release covers the first three weeks of the vaccination programme following the approval of the Pfizer vaccine.

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Health minister Vaughan Gething described deployment of the vaccination programme as "an admirable job by the Welsh NHS."

He added the newly-approved Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine should be available in some GP surgeries in Wales from Monday.

"Comparisons are naturally being made on the number of vaccinations administered by the four nations of the UK," he said.

"The latest data has been published today. Whilst I recognise the data indicates there are other nations ahead of us, the national data presented at this very early stage of the vaccination roll out should be considered provisional and a snapshot of ongoing activity.

"We know, for example, that there will be lags in data entry. There are likely to be small differences between nations and figures for each country may be disproportionately impacted by any delivery or data issues within countries.

"There are also local factors we expect to have contributed to the figures at this early stage. For example the vaccination centre in Cardiff and the Vale was unable to operate for two days because of a virus outbreak linked to the site.

"We have been building a vaccination infrastructure from scratch and health boards have had to upscale over the past month.

"Daily vaccination rates are increasing across Wales and, looking ahead, all health boards are preparing for significant expansion in capacity from the beginning of January, with the coming on-stream of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. The vaccine will be offered in some GP surgeries from Monday.

"Health boards are also increasing capacity now that foundations have been laid – with one doubling appointments next week as a result of increased staff capacity and having made efficiencies, as staff have become more experienced in handling the vaccine.

"Vaccination centres have increased from 14 to 22 and many more immunisers are also being deployed over the coming weeks, with some areas doubling capacity.

"We have taken great care to ensure we minimise waste in spite of the very challenging storage and distribution requirements of the Pfizer vaccine. To date, with over 35,000 doses administered, fewer than one per cent of doses have been unable to be used. This is testament to the efforts of pharmacy and nursing professionals at our vaccination centres.

"This is only the very beginning of what will be a programme spanning many months. Whilst the urgency and priority required is clear to all; we must also have some patience and allow the NHS to do what it does so well.

"My focus, and that of the NHS, is on delivering the vaccine programme quickly but also effectively, safely and equitably."