Dozens of people miss chance to have their coronavirus vaccine because of ‘delayed post’

Dozens of people missed out on their chance to get their Covid vaccines – and it may have been because their mail was late.

Swansea Bay University Health Board said 80 people failed to attend the Margam Orangery mass vaccination centre on Monday, March 1, despite letters having been sent to them the week before informing them of their appointment.

And it said the delayed delivery of those letters, which were posted first class five days before, might have been to blame for many of those missed appointments.

A health board spokesman said: “In this instance we believe that some of these missed appointments were down to the delayed delivery of appointment letters, which were sent first class on Wednesday, February 24.

“As soon as we became aware of the issue, we contacted each of these people to offer new appointments, and put on additional clinics for them on Tuesday, March 2.

“We run a reserve list for Covid-19 vaccines but you cannot actively join and must not turn up at our centres without an appointment.

“Our booking centre contacts those who are next in line for the vaccine – and are in the correct priority groups – in the event of slots opening up at short notice”.

Nearly four in 10 of the adult population (people aged 16-plus) of Wales have now had their first vaccine against coronavirus, while a further 7% of the Welsh population have now received their second doses, with two-thirds of healthcare workers being fully vaccinated.

As of March 7 Wales had administered 1,185,657 doses in total, up from 1,032,133 the previous week. Of these, 1,001,561 were first doses of the vaccine, which is given in two separate jabs. In total 184,096 people had received their second dose.

The Royal Mail has been asked to comment.