Diolch yn fawr. Today, I am publishing our new national immunisation framework. Vaccination has long been a critical part of NHS Wales's delivery to protect our citizens and our communities. The pandemic required us to think differently about the deployment of vaccination, in particular the need to maximise uptake and to ensure equity. We must learn these lessons and apply them to our future arrangements, and it is through this national immunisation framework that we will do that. I want this framework to enable positive changes to deliver and improve vaccination arrangements and to increase uptake across all our vaccination programmes.

The vaccination transformation programme was established earlier this year to look at the provision of vaccination services to ensure arrangements are fit for the future. In July, I published the winter respiratory vaccination strategy, which paved the way for an integrated COVID-19 and influenza vaccination programme that launched on 1 September. The programme is progressing well, with both the COVID-19 and flu campaigns now in full swing. All those eligible for a COVID-19 booster will have their invites by the end of November, and those eligible for flu vaccination will have theirs by the end of December. It’s so important that we maximise the uptake of both vaccines, and I encourage everyone to take up their appointments this autumn to protect themselves and their families.

As important as they are, especially at this time of year, this framework is about much more than vaccination against respiratory viruses; it covers all our vaccination programmes, including childhood immunisations. And it is the success and good practice of these programmes that has been the foundation for the transformation process. Indeed, they provided the basis for our world-leading COVID-19 vaccination programme.

Our vision for the future of immunisation in Wales is high uptake of a sustainably delivered, effective vaccine at the right time to reduce severe illness and death. We want to see vaccination services that are clear, where people know what vaccinations they are eligible for and how to receive them, with high levels of uptake and equity of access at the heart of service design and provision. This is the first national immunisation framework to be issued for Wales and its development has been on a co-production basis, with the Welsh Government and the NHS working as one team to identify and use lessons from the pandemic to transition to a position of improved business as usual for all vaccination programmes.

Health board accountability will remain unchanged, with boards assessing local need, commissioning, performance managing and evaluating provision in line with the national strategic direction. Our intention is to support that, to enable improvements and to maximise uptake to protect everyone in Wales. The NHS executive will have a key role in planning and performance managing vaccination programmes in the future.

So, the framework identifies six key areas of focus, within which our strategic priorities and expectations are set, and these are vaccination equity, digitally enabled vaccination, eligibility, public vaccination literacy, deployment and governance. The majority of commitments outlined in the framework build on practices that have worked well from our experience and flexibility of the COVID-19 programme or best practice from existing, long-standing programmes. All have been identified by key partners, including those delivering services on the ground. We know that health harms from COVID-19 have not affected people in Wales equally. Tailored support has been needed to enable and encourage underserved groups to take up the offer of vaccination. People from harder-to-reach communities will come forward for vaccination, which points to accessibility rather than acceptability being a key barrier. That is something that we must tackle, and it is why we have put vaccination equity at the core of Wales’s vaccination approach and this framework.

Public understanding and engagement are critical in supporting people to come forward for vaccination, so the framework focuses in on this. It includes priorities on the co-production of patient materials, robust communications and engagement strategies, and training to increase awareness of vaccination among the health and care workforce, and community and trusted figures, so that they can advocate for vaccination and make every contact count.