Wales is to offer all five to 11-year-olds a Covid-19 vaccine, becoming the first UK nation to do so.
Welsh health minister Eluned Morgan made the announcement on Tuesday as figures were released showing coronavirus deaths rose in Wales last week despite falling across most English regions.
Ms Morgan told members of the Welsh parliament (Senedd) that the government was still waiting for further guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on additional jabs for older people, but was pushing ahead with the plan for younger people.
“In terms of vaccinations for children between five and 11 years of age, we are already implementing a plan to ensure that this happens,” she said.
“We’re not going to do that as a matter of urgency, as we did over the Christmas period. That’s partly because the risk isn’t as great to that cohort.
“And we’re also waiting to hear from the JCVI to see whether there will be a need for a booster on top of the booster for older age groups in the spring.
“We certainly would want to consider which of those has to be prioritised. We just need to consider and weigh up amongst all of the other things that we need to consider, when it comes to making a decision on vaccination and what we need to do in that regard. So, I’m sure I’ll receive a great deal more advice on that.”
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