THE "massive undertaking" of vaccinating people in Wales against coronavirus will begin as soon as next week - but it will be well into 2021 before everyone has the chance to benefit, says Wales' Chief Medical Officer.

The approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine by the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency - announced earlier today - marks a massive step forward in the fight to control coronavirus.

Wales CMO Dr Frank Atherton said he hopes the approval of this first vaccine - others are on the way - marks the beginning of the end of the pandemic.

“We have never in the UK, certainly in my professional career, probably ever undertaken a mass vaccination programme of this nature, where our ambition is to eventually reach the whole population," he said.

“It is a massive undertaking. That is clearly not going to happen overnight.

“It is going to be well into next year before we get through this, and that reflects the fact that we need to have access to stocks - and of course, the logistics of managing something on that scale are absolutely enormous."

Frontline NHS and social care workers, people aged over 80 years, and those living and working in care homes head the priority list for receiving the vaccine, and Dr Atherton said: “We will work our way through those priority lists.

“It's fantastic news that we're going to be able to be starting this as soon as next week, but everything else depends on when we get stocks and how quickly we can start to roll it out.

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"But we were looking well into next year before the whole population is covered.

"The main aim of vaccination will be to protect those who are most vulnerable and to prevent people from developing a severe illness if they are exposed to the virus.

"We hope it will also reduce community transmission."

Dr Gill Richardson, co-chair of Wales' Covid-19 Vaccine Programme Board, said all health boards have sites earmarked for use to store vaccines, and the distribution mechanisms "are being finalised as we speak".

"It will be a vaccine that will arrive this side of Christmas and will be administered as soon as we receive it," she said.

She could not give exact figures for the amount of doses to be provided, but said it will be in "large quantities, and once under way, will proceed "at quite a pace".

“We have tested our plans. These are not without challenges, as one of the vaccines [the newly approved Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine] must be stored at ultra-low temperatures," said Dr Richardson.

Healthcare staff are being trained to administer the vaccine, and legal frameworks are being finalised so it vaccine can be given to people.

The UK government has pre-ordered tens of millions of doses of both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines and Wales will receive its share based on population.

Both these vaccines require two doses to be effective, which must be given four weeks apart.

“People will be invited to come and have the vaccine through the NHS," said Dr Richardson.

"We’ll be holding special vaccine clinics to make sure people can receive the jab, while keeping normal NHS services free to see people.

"The vaccine is the best way to protect people, but no-one will be forced to have it if they don’t want it”.

But she added that she would encourage people to have it, to help save lives and protect the NHS.