NHS Wales’ free flu vaccination will be available for anyone aged 50 or over from Tuesday, December 1.

An extra 460,000 vaccines are available in Wales this year, and are currently being made available to GP practices and community pharmacies across Wales.

Everyone over 50 will now be contacted by their GP - or can themselves contact their local pharmacy to arrange a vaccination.

READ MORE:

By mid-November more than 750,000 vulnerable people, NHS staff and schoolchildren in Wales had taken up the offer of a free flu vaccine.

Of those aged over 65, 70 per cent had also been vaccinated - levels substantially higher than during the same period last year.

Minister for health and social services, Vaughan Gething, said: “This winter more and more people in Wales are taking-up the offer of a free flu vaccine.

"We have made great progress to protect the most vulnerable in our community and a further 460,000 people in Wales will now be able to benefit from the protection the vaccine offers them and our NHS services.”

“Extending the flu vaccine to everyone aged 50 or over will help prevent more people becoming ill and reduce pressure on the NHS this winter.

"I would urge anyone who is eligible to follow the example of the huge numbers of people vaccinated already and have the vaccine.”

Chief medical officer for Wales, Frank Atherton, said: “Everyone who is eligible for a NHS flu vaccine can be confident about having it to protect themselves and those around them this winter.

"Rolling-out the vaccine to all over 50s will protect them and others in our communities in every part of Wales and help protect the NHS this winter.”