2. Will the Welsh Government make a statement on immunisation rates in north Wales? OAQ52943

I'm happy to do so. Immunisation uptake rates in Wales remain at the top of international benchmarks and are comparable to other UK countries. The vast majority of children in Wales are fully immunised before they start school. Uptake of childhood immunisations in north Wales is above the Wales average for most programmes.

Thank you for that response. You'll be aware that older people and other vulnerable groups are also encouraged to undertake the offer of a flu vaccine each winter. There's been considerable concern in north Wales about a shortage of the vaccine across the region, including in my own constituency of Clwyd West. Do you accept that that shortage could potentially put the lives of vulnerable people at risk? And what are you doing to drive up the vaccination rates amongst front-line NHS workers, where there are—a significant proportion of whom do not have these jabs every year and could be putting patients at risk?

Thank you for the follow-up question. There were essentially two parts to the follow-up question. Actually, over the last year we've made real progress on NHS workers, in particular front-line workers, in actually undertaking the vaccine. Four years or so ago, when I was given the opportunity to work in the health department, the level of vaccine uptake within our NHS workers was considerably less than 50 per cent. It's now more than that, and actually Betsi Cadwaladr does pretty well within the bunch of Welsh workers. We're looking for that to expand further, because there is a clear message about, especially, people who have direct contact with patients to undertake the flu vaccination. We've taken that further in the social care sector as well. So, this year, the community pharmacy sector will lead on the vaccination of front-line workers in residential care, too.

On your point about the vaccine for older workers, it's one of those health phrases—the adjuvanted vaccine: a vaccine that is more effective for people over the age of 65. Actually, the evidence from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is that it's likely to be the only vaccine effective in people over 75. So, that's going out in every one of the UK countries, and all four countries have had some supply challenges from the manufacturer. We're now in a position where we can be confident that all of that supply will be available for the end of this month, November, and it's being phased in its roll-out. The manufacturers acknowledge some of the challenges they've had in doing so, but of course we're learning lessons this season, not just at the end of it, and I'm confident, as I think every other UK country is too, there is going to be adequate supply of that vaccine both in GPs and in community pharmacies to actually have a proper uptake of our most vulnerable citizens, and, this year, a more effective vaccine for over-65s as well.