 Well, pronunciation dar, good afternoon. I'm very pleased indeed to be joined this afternoon by Doctor Sally Lewis. Doctor Lewis will be giving you a personal insight into what it has been like to be part of Wales' biggest ever vaccination programme, and I'm going to begin just by outlining the latest position of the programme. Roedd yng Nghymru yn deilwyr yw'r ystod yw'r ysgrifennid yw'r ystod yw'r cyfrannu arweithiol yng nghymru, ac mae'r ymddangos iawn yn gweithio'r ystod, yn y dyfodol y peth bryd yn y pandemian. Yn Ymdangos, a'r 66 ydyn ni, dweud yn fwyaf o'r ffordd, ond mae'n cymryd ystod y ffordd gyda'r ysgrifennid yw'r ystod.ện number three is what you're doing. We've expressed our opinion about the number one queies required to be vaccinated and could not be vaccinated because that started out normally to be a signs of gain for a number of Covid COVID recovery groups. That means that we've offered vaccination to everyone in the first four priority groups. That's everyone over 70, all front-line health and social care workers, everyone living and working in an old person's care home and everyone who are clinically extremely vulnerable. gyda'r ddiweddau gennych enghreifftol, ddweudio o gyfioedd yng Nghymru yn ysgrifennu'n cyffredinol, gyda'r ddiweddau gyda'r ddiweddau gyda'n gyffredinol, gyda'r ddiweddau gyda'r gyffredinol a'r ddiweddau'n cyffredinol. Mae'r ddiweddau gyda'r gyffredinol yn gyfioedd ar gyfer cyfioedd gwirioneddau a phoblidiau yn gyd-diweddau Can I say now that in total more than 750,000 people have already had the first dose of the vaccine but we want to make sure that nobody atone發 integer. from those first four groups is left behind so if you've changed your mind about having the vaccine or missed your appointment because of illness mae'n gael i gennych cael ei gweithio a'i wneud bethau'r listau arall oolaeth gael cael rhoi'r byd gyda'r hyn yn bwysig a ni'n bwysig a ni'n bwysig a ni i'n bwysig i'n gael lawer a hyn sy'n fwyfyrdd o lŵw arwinellodau yma. Y rhaid hyn, mae'r ddodol iawn yn gweithio o gyrfa a'r e-mail o'r adreu'r ddodol yn ddechrau'r first four groups i'w ddodol i'r ddych yn ddodol i'w gwneud yw'r angen a phoesol ac mae'n gwneud o'r adreu'r ddodol i'r wefsidell. Dwy'r ddiwedd eich bod ni, sydd wedi bod yn gweithio, mae'n fwy o ddodol i'r ddodol i'r gwneud i'w ddodol i'r ddodol i'r amser, os yw gweithio i'r ddodol i'r ddodol i'r gweithio. Felly, o ddod, o'r gwaith, sy'n cael ei ddechrau y myddwyr o'r mynd yn ystod, byddwn i gyda'r cyfnod ar y cyfrifio y gallwn ddweud o'r cyfrifio yma, ac rydyn ni'n gwybod i amddangos i dr Louis, gyda'r GP, y Llywodraeth Cynulliad ym Ysbyd Llywodraeth Cymru. Dr Louis. Ddweud o'r ddwy'r cyfrifio yma. Oedden ni'n gallu o ffacilio'r masfacilio'n ymgweithiau yn fwyaf, a gyda'r 3.5 miliwn ar gweithio am gweithio pwysig yn ffaxin yn y 8 mlynedd ar y middlo'r Febury. Rwy'n dweud i ddod y bod ni'n wneud o'r lleidio ar y gwaith i'r gwaith, a'r lleidio ar gyfer allanodau. Mae'r ffaxin ar y celfidig yn y brosers, mae'n golygu i fod yn gweithio'r regime ar gweithio'r gwaith mwy faxin ar ddod yn gweithio'r seithio'r rhysgau. Rydym ni wneud hynny o fynd i'w gweithio gyfeirio'r gweithio'r gwaith cyfwyrdd y ddod, gyda'r gweithio'r gweithio sy'n gwirio'r gwneud i gael mwylo'r gweithio gweithio. Felly, mae'n rhoi'r cyfeirio'r cyfwyrdd cymdeithasiaid eu logistigol i'r gweithio'r gweithio'r cyfwyrdd yn gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio. Wel, y gwaith yng Nghymru wedi ychydig yn ôl y gallu gofyniaid hynny yw bwysig, o ddwydyrwch at wychartwch gweithio cymrydd gwaith ym ni. Siarad i ddweud o'r ei bodn sydd yn ffordd. Gfyrddwch chi'n gael dda'r ff Catherine Modell gyda maes gwasanae cynnwys, gyflym yn oedgario gyfun埐, tan ydw i wahanol, neu'r amser yn ffarmasu hefyd. Mae yna gwybodaeth bendwch i ddiweddfaboth ar ddydd wedi bod nhw'n gweithio ddaeth eu ddiweddangos i gyllid speaksu, ac yn ni'n dewy, dyma'r dduod i weithio. So, yn ter karena'r cyfasodi, maen nhw y gallwn ddim i bawb o'r plan hwnna a gael dyn Championship Planing arall wedi'i gyd yn gyfremio'r rhaglen iawn a dyma'n reall bod lle i ni'n iawn i'r gyrfa i'r system ond yw i ddechrau iír uncau i gyd yn ei bodai cyfaseidol â'r cyfaseidol a i'r vaciwn. Rwy'n iddo i wneud yr eich grfaith bach i'r hwnnw gwneud hynny a ni'r hynny o'r ddweud, I know that we can really learn from my GP colleagues on this who've been very efficiently vaccinating for many years of course in flu campaigns every year. We also need to pay attention to groups where uptake is lower and really keep a close eye on the data there, whether that's due to vaccine hesitancy or other reasons. I was speaking to colleagues just yesterday in Newport West doing some really great work on outreach with community and faith leaders about how we increase confidence where there is vaccine hesitancy. We have to go as fast as we can but also we have to avoid inequity across eligible groups or by geography and that's why the mixed model of vaccine delivery is so important. So the other thing I wanted to say was when we see vaccination on the TV most people see vaccine going into a person's arm. But actually to get to that point requires a huge number of people in planning to match the provision, the delivery of the vaccine with the supply that we have which as you know has been variable at times. The administration tasks are huge and often at very short notice as the vaccine comes in and we want to get it into arms as quickly as possible. Our informatics colleagues are working seven days a week to make sure that the Welsh immunisation system is working both for scheduling and for capturing the data around who's been vaccinated. Pharmacists managing supply are vaccinators and volunteers of course and local partnerships with local authorities, third sector police and our army colleagues have all been invaluable. So in short it's a huge multidisciplinary collaborative effort which we need to continue over the next six months to really get ahead with this programme. And I just want to finish with a little bit of how this feels for myself and for my colleagues in NHS Wales. When I did my first mass vaccination centre shift on December the 17th I had a conversation with some care home staff who had really been isolated in their care home with the resident for months and months and months. And their joy and our joy at being able to give them some hope for how things are going to get better as we come out of this pandemic. You know I can't describe that feeling to you and I know that everybody that's involved within the vaccination programme feels exactly the same as I do. Thank you. Thank you very much indeed for that real insight into the complexity that lies behind the programme and the huge sense of a team effort, a real team Wales approach that lies behind the figures that we're reporting today, more than one in five people in Wales already having had the first dose of the vaccine. And that is the result of all those extraordinary efforts that you've heard about and you know the praise and the thanks lies absolutely with those people at the front line and all those behind them who have allowed that to happen here in Wales. And now as you heard Dr Lewis said the hard work goes on as we move to the next priority groups while also providing second doses. Now we know that over the next few weeks we will see a slight reduction in the amount of vaccine we receive especially compared to the levels we've had over the last very busy few weeks. But we know about this, it's a planned part of the programme, it is an issue that is the same right across the whole of the United Kingdom. We have factored this into our vaccination plans, it won't affect people's appointments, it won't delay when people are due to get their second dose and it will allow us to go even faster later in the programme. Over the next few months we will be offering vaccination to everybody in groups 5 to 9 of the JCVI list. Everyone aged between 50 and 69, everyone over 16 who has an underlying health condition which puts them at increased risk and a great many unpaid carers who provide care for someone else who is vulnerable to the virus. Once again I say to anybody in those groups please take up the offer of vaccination, it is safe and effective, it protects you and it will help us all in our effort to protect one another. So at the same time as we have seen the fantastic progress with vaccination we are also seeing rates of coronavirus continuing to fall across the country and that is thanks to the hard work of everyone here in Wales over the last few months. I know that this has been a huge challenge for so many people living through lockdown again but we all need to keep on working together to push infection rates even further down while our vaccinators carry on doing their vital work to protect people. And then we can be ready for the future, a year in which things can get better and Wales where we learn the lessons of coronavirus and shape a future together which is ambitious and outward looking but where we are always looking out as well for those who have been the hardest hit. That is why we will start by bringing our youngest children back to school after half term. That's why we will go on supporting businesses across Wales and that's why today we are celebrating the successes of our national health service. Thank you, thank you all for everything you do to help us to keep Wales safe. Diolch o galon i chi gyd. We'll now go as usual to questions and as usual as well all the answers will be broadcast on our own social media channels. And the first this afternoon is to go to James Williams at BBC Wales. Can I start with the next milestone then for the vaccine rollout? Boris Johnson has said that he hopes that in England they'll hit that next milestone all nine groups by the end of April. Is that the sort of timescale you're looking at as well? And are there any more foreseen problems or problems but issues with the supply coming in the next few months or is it just this particular period? James, thank you. We will say something more specific than we've seen said so far. Our target is to complete the next five groups by the spring. Once we've got through this next couple of days and we're completely certain that the first four groups are behind us then we will say something a little more definite about where we expect the five groups to be completed. We don't have any indications of any further hold-ups in vaccine beyond the slowdown we know over the next couple of weeks. The UK Minister responsible for vaccine supply has said there will be some lumps and bumps in the road so I suppose we have to anticipate that. But our plans are based on what the UK Government has been able to tell us about the weeks ahead, a small slowdown over the next couple of weeks and accelerating supply of vaccine during the month of March, enough to give us confidence that we will remain on track to complete all nine priority groups within the timeframe we've laid down. So, just either way, beth ni wedi dweud ymbarod yw ni'n mynd i gwblhau a popeth am y nawr grwpiau gyntaf cyn ddiwedd y gwanwyn. Ar ôl y penwrthnos pan ni wedi ei wneud popeth ni'n gallu wneud i dod y pedwyr grwp gyntaf i'r ben i'n mynd i dweud rhywbeth fwy panodol am pryd a ni'n disgyl ni'n gallu dod i'r grwpiau nesaf o 5 grwp. A hyn o bryd ni'n cynllunio dros wrthnosais i ddod, mae'r Llywodraeth yna yn ysynedig wedi ddweud atoni a bith brechlyn yn dod atoni. Mae cwpwlla o wrthnosais i ddod bith bith a faint o'r faxu'n sydaniau mynd i lawr peth bach. Ond bydd hynny'n mynd i helpu ni'n mysmawth i gyflwymi ar aglen sydaniau a'n cynllunio a'n hyderus ni'n gallu wneud hynny. Mae'n bryd y stryd i gweithio'r byth. James, rwy'n mynd i'n gwybod i'r Rob Osborne ar ITV Wales. Dyma'r gweithio'r bywau'n gweithio'n gweithio hyn sydd wedi'u cymryd ar y grwp, oherwydd mae'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio ar gwrtho'i bobl ac mae'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio hynny. Mae'n gweithio'n gweithio, oherwydd mae'n gweithio'n gweithio hynny, ac mae'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio? Well, Robert, it is very good news that they have contacted you, because that will now allow us to contact them. Because the NHS, in every part of Wales, is spending this week checking and re-checking whether there are any people who have missed. Now, there may be a whole range of reasons why that could have happened, and I can't really probably speculate on them, but anybody in this part of my purpose in doing the press conference today is to say, anybody who knows of somebody who may have missed out, it is not too late at all. We will make sure that those people have an appointment. They will get it as fast as possible. I know that Sally has been involved in work this morning to make sure that that is happening in her part of Wales. However, people draw that to our attention, and we will be very grateful to have the details from you. That means we can contact them and get the vaccination that we all want to see out to those people. My second question is also on the future. People have put the vaccine as a way of getting out of this crisis, and the return back to normal life. I wonder if you could define to us what a normal life looks like. Does it mean wearing masks for a lot longer? Does social distancing go on for years to come? What does normal look like? Well, I'm certainly not going to look ahead for years to come. It's difficult enough thinking of the next three weeks. But what I would like us to be able to get back to in Wales, and more quickly than we were able to last year, is the way things were last summer. So last summer we were still social distancing. We were still being asked to wear masks on public transport and in crowded places. But we were able to travel. Restaurants were open. People could go on holiday. So coronavirus is going to be with us for months to come. It's going to be, as somebody said to me recently, a long goodbye. Even when it's in the rear view mirror, we will need to go on being careful about the way that we live our daily lives. But if we could get back to the way that things were back in July and August of last year, could get to them more quickly than we were able to do it last year, I think people will notice the difference very significantly in their lives. And we'll be prepared to go on doing the small things that we all can do because they do make cumulatively a real difference while allowing us to reopen those parts of life that matters so much to us all. Rob, thank you very much. Drosodd i Adam Hale, PA. Ddiolch yn fawr i chi. On the planned production vaccine supply of the next few weeks, which close we'll see some vaccine senders temporarily shut their doors. It is the sort of situation you were indicating to last month when you said that it would be damaging not to spread out the vaccine supply and potentially have vaccinators standing around with nothing to do. Well, when I was referring to that, I was referring to the fact that we needed to make sure that we use all the supply that we have in the most effective way we have. Now, we have used every drop of that supply that we had at the time that I was speaking about that. And, you know, it is inevitable in the complex world of vaccine supply that when factories need to be regeared so that they can produce even more that there will be some temporary reductions in the volume that we have. But the important thing to say today is that none of this is unexpected. We know about it. It's the UK wide pattern. Wales is not being singled out for reduction in any way. And the changes that are going to be made over the next couple of weeks really will help us because they will accelerate the supply of the vaccine in March and April, allowing us to complete the vaccination, the first dose, offer a vaccination to the next five groups. Thank you. Is Wales the first country in the UK to meet this small stone of offering the vaccinations to everyone in the first four groups? We've heard a lot recently about, you know, Welsh Government saying Wales is first in a few areas when it comes to the pandemic. But we haven't heard anything today about you being the first with this. Is there a reason for that? Well, I'm just anxious to avoid the narrative that this is somehow a competition between UK nations. I've said from the very beginning, the contest is between the injection and the infection. You know, our race is with coronavirus. Now, we are the first nation in the UK to have reached this milestone. Other nations will follow in the next couple of days. We're not in competition with one another. Every part of the UK is working as hard as it can to get to these milestones because of the astonishing efforts that have been made by Dr Lewis and all her colleagues and all those people who support those frontline staff. We're able to say today that we'll have reached that milestone by the end of the day and into the very beginning of the weekend. But the race is not with other countries in the UK or elsewhere in the world. The race is to get as many people vaccinated as fast as we can so that we can begin to see this dreadful experience, as I say, in the rear view mirror rather than one that is always ahead of us. Adam Dichvald, over to Mark Smith at Wales online. Thank you very much indeed both. This is a question addressed to the First Minister. Many members of the public and indeed business owners in areas like hospitality will be desperate for more lockdown restrictions to be lifted given the much lower infection rates and testing positivity rates we've seen in Wales. However, the latest scientific guidance given to the Welsh Government by the technical advisory cell warns of exponential growth in infection rates if lockdown restrictions are lifted too quickly. So my question is how do you balance the sobering advice you've been given by the TAC with the growing desires of people to have many of their freedoms back? Thank you Mark. What we will rely on will be the positive way in which people in Wales last year supported the careful step-by-step approach we took to lifting restrictions. The anxiety that our scientists point to is this, isn't it, is that we now have the Kent variant, the dominant variant of this virus in Wales and its transmissibility is much quicker than the original version. So what we don't know is is as we start carefully and cautiously to lift restrictions we don't know how this new variant will react, whether even a small uptick in the number of infections might accelerate away from us even more quickly than would have been the case last year and that's why they urge caution on us. But as we, and I hope when I'm standing here next week I'll be confirming that the foundation phase is going back to school and if there's anything else and if there is anything else it will be very modest indeed that we can do we will monitor that as carefully as we possibly can to see whether the conditions of the new variant give us cause for concern and that's the balancing act and I think people in Wales will understand that. Nobody will want us to throw away all the efforts that people have made since before Christmas and we will not do that. We will look to restore freedoms in a way that continues to secure our safety against coronavirus and its latest developments while always wanting you know as safely as we can to restore the freedoms that we have all been missing. Thank you very much indeed for that answer and my second question is probably more directed to Dr Lewis. Now that everyone in the first four priority groups has been offered a vaccine are you able to give us any insight into what areas of Wales that take up has been lower and is any work going on to understand what the reasons for that might be? Yes thank you for the question. Yes absolutely and one of the really important aspects of this campaign is our use of the Welsh immunisation system which allows us to capture really good data contemporaneously so that we can understand where uptake is lower very very quickly and seek to act on it. So as I said earlier on when I was speaking we must make sure that there's no inequity either because of geography, morality, ethnicity or any other reason so I know that my colleagues in all parts of Wales are working to look at that data and then quickly leap on it and understand the reasons should there be any reduced uptake and seek to change our plans to meet the changing needs of the population so that we reach as many people as possible who wish to have the vaccine and we don't leave anybody behind. Well thank you very much indeed over to Dan Beverham at LBC. Thank you First Minister and Dr Lewis. Good afternoon to you both. My questions are more directed towards yourself First Minister but Dr Lewis if you'd like to chime in then please feel free to. This lull in vaccinations that you're talking about being planned and expected, the people of Wales will only be finding out about it today or yesterday when it broke in the media. When did you find out about it and why are we only talking about it now in these briefings? Well first of all Dan I wouldn't use the word lull because there will be thousands of people next week receiving their second vaccine and there will be thousands of people in those new five groups who will also be called in for vaccination next week. It is a small and temporary reduction in supply. I was keen to make it clear to people because I've always thought that the more we share information with others the more people understand how the programme that is run on their behalf is going. People have been rightly concentrating on completing the first four groups of vaccination. That's where people's interest has been. Those are the figures people have been looking at every day. Now that we are completing that part of the programme today and into tomorrow I thought this was the right moment to explain how the next five groups will be dealt with a temporary and relatively small fall-in volumes next week across the UK in order to put factories in a position where we can have even more of the vaccine in March and April. I think once people have understood that this was planned for and is for a purpose people will understand that it will help us in the final ambition of getting those next five groups done by the spring. Just before I go on to my second question Minister I can't just ask again when did you find out about this as you say this dip in vaccination just so we know how much notice we might be able to get next time? Sure. Dan, I'm trying to give you as accurate an answer as I can looking back over the week. I have a weekly meeting with the team who are planning the vaccination programme in Wales. The meeting this week took place on Wednesday afternoon and that is when I would have been provided with the information that I've been sharing with people yesterday and today. Thank you and in reference to your answer to Rob from ITV you say that you want to get back to similar sort of measures as in the summer and although back then we did have a lot more freedoms than we do now still a lot of things that we couldn't do couldn't go to a sporting event couldn't go to concerts and there were still a lot of measures on things like hospitality social distancing between tables etc. Are you saying that those types of measures could well be in place for the foreseeable to the end of the year let's say? No I was answering Rob's question which asked me what I thought the new normal might look like and was explaining that in the first instance if we could get to where things were this last summer and get to them earlier in the year that that would be a significant achievement and that people would notice real differences in their lives. At the moment we can't travel we were able to travel then. Now we're not able to meet people beyond our own household we were able to do that then. We won't we can't go on holiday at the moment we could do it then we couldn't go out to eat we can't go out to eat now we could do it then you know life was significantly different and if we could get back to that that's not where it ends of course but that would be in answering Rob's question where I thought the new normal was heading if we could get to that I think people would notice the difference and that would give us a platform to move on provided things continue to improve to restore other freedoms and other important things but of course I know people miss every day. Dan thank you very much Drosodd i Howell Griffith BBC news. First of all First Minister you've given a pretty clear signal today that you hope tourism can resume in Wales potentially from Easter onwards you know in other parts of the UK ministers have advised against booking holidays what do you say to people within Wales but also outside of Wales about whether or not they could book a holiday to come here in the spring? Well what I say to them is that they should do it knowing the uncertain world that we are living in and that there are no guarantees in this nobody can offer them a guarantee you probably will remember how well that's when we reopened tourism last year we didn't go from nothing to everything in one go our first steps were to reopen self-contained accommodation where people had all their own facilities where they weren't shared facilities and that self-contained accommodation was occupied by people in your own family group so you know I hear everything that the tourism industry says to us in Wales I want to recognise how important the Easter period is to them and I've tried to give an indication today that if everything continues to improve we will do what we can to respond to their wish to be able to resume trading again over the Easter period nobody should think for a moment that that will mean a wholesale reopening of that industry and anybody who is booking ahead needs to do so in the full knowledge that the improvements we are seeing at the moment nobody can guarantee that things will continue in that way. We're talking about unlocking and this potentially being the last lockdown but can you confirm that behind the scenes maybe officials have to consider the possibility of other lockdowns later this year potentially a lockdown again in the autumn later this year you wouldn't want to confirm it obviously you don't know what will happen but can you confirm that is a working possibility in long-term planning? Well I'd say to people just look what has happened in Melbourne overnight in Australia there is a city hosting the Australian Open tennis tournament expecting that to go ahead which is suddenly back into a five day circuit breaker that's how fast you can go from being in a relatively promising position as we are in Wales at the moment to things being very difficult again of course the Welsh Government prepares for all eventualities and nobody could rule out something unexpected happening a new variant from somewhere else in the world that gets into the United Kingdom and causes us a new set of difficulties to take the most obvious example nobody should rule out you know nobody could say that lockdowns are guaranteed to be a thing of the past and the responsible government always has to plan for all eventualities and that is what we will be doing. How about you have involved over to Steve Bagnol as a daily post? Thank you both my questions are probably directed to the first minister with schools set to reopen from February the 22nd we've heard concerns about whether teachers will have the correct PPE to ensure safety are you able to guarantee they will be getting the protective equipment needed in time for young pupils returning and the school environment will be safe to return to? Well we've been working very hard Steve with the teacher unions and non-teacher unions and the local education authority to put into place all the safeguards that we can identify we want our young people to be back in school they've had a terrible year but of course that must be done in a way that is safe for them and safe for staff as well we've identified additional safeguards as a result of the last couple of weeks discussions we'll be offering twice weekly lateral flow tests to staff in school we've provided five million pounds in additional funding to our local education authorities so that they can provide higher grade face coverings for example as additional protection we continue to be in discussions with our colleagues in the teacher unions and in local councils and if there are further ideas that allow us to strengthen those protections further then of course that is what we will do the supply of PPE will come not directly from the Welsh Government we fund the local authorities so that they've got supplies and the supplies are there for them they will then provide those onwards for use in schools. Thank you and with cases of the South African variants appearing in North Wales we've seen what an angle see now linked to international travel is there any update on investigations into where a case in Conway may have originated and have there been any further cases of that variant or other variants detected in North Wales? Well see the last time I was briefed on this which was yesterday they were no further examples of the South African variant anywhere in Wales including North Wales we know 13 cases 11 of those have already been explained and are linked to travel from South Africa in two cases that investigation continues and as of yesterday that is as you know a North Wales case and a case at the other end of Wales those investigations hadn't been completed but no additional numbers are anywhere in Wales. Steve thank you to Rob Taylor at rexham.com. Good afternoon First Minister. In North East Wales rexham flinch have had similar case rates and have been trading the dubious title of being the worst in Wales. This week the two local authorities have taken contrasting action on school reopening. Is rexham's caution the right option compared to flinch's choice and do you support such localised decision making? Well we said in the very beginning Rob that we would have a partial phased and flexible return to education for our three to seven year olds and the reason for offering flexibility is that circumstances are different in different parts of Wales and even between local authorities where the raw numbers may look similar the on the ground arrangements the size of classes the age of school buildings and so on differs between one location and another. It was the deal we did with our local education authorities that they would have that flexibility. I am confident that every local authority is thinking very carefully about what is right in their set of circumstances. I'm glad they've got that flexibility. All of that is being exercised against the background of a strong agreed position between the teachers, the local education authorities and the Welsh Government. We all want as many young people back in face to face education as quickly as we can manage it but as safely as we can manage it and those circumstances will vary in different parts of Wales. Thank you and Dr Lewis someone who works at local GP surgery told us that they have the capability to vaccinate it to greater speed if they have the vaccination supply to do so. Is that a fair reflection of what you see on the ground and related to that First Minister? Welsh Government have published vaccination program data entitled stock and distribution but it doesn't actually contain any data on stock or distribution because it refers to the UK Government asking that vaccine stock data is not published due to current commercial sensitivities. Are you able to explain what those commercial sensitivities are? Yes, thank you. Well I was on a call with four GP cluster leads, four GP leaders from North Wales last night and I can tell you that nobody is more anxious than my GP colleagues to to be part of the vaccination campaign. I mentioned when I was speaking earlier about the mixed model that we need to use and how we distribute supply and get vaccine to the priority groups in the most effective way and how important it is for local health boards and primary care GP practices to be working together locally to plan the best way to do that and as we see the supplies really start to come through now during the spring I'm sure that I've got absolutely no doubt that GP colleagues will be working very hard vaccinating as hard and fast as they can. What I would also say though is that in rural areas of North Wales as you will know people are a long way from urban centres, potentially a long way from mass vaccination centres so the owners will be falling very much on GP colleagues to deliver large parts of this programme. So again that collaboration across the system is really important and I know that people are gearing up for those increased supplies throughout the spring. Sorry thank you and Rob, I am frustrated at the fact that I've now discussed this matter for three weeks in a row in the weekly call we are now getting with the UK Government and the other First Ministers very glad that we are having that reliably every week every Wednesday but we've had three weeks worth of discussions in which what I want to do I think is quite simple I want to be able to publish retrospectively not looking ahead but looking at what has already happened I want to publish three figures how much supply of vaccine has been available to Wales how we have distributed that out to GP practices and local health boards and how much have we residually retained at the centre in case there are any problems any part of Wales we've got to provide some additional supply. I struggle to see what is the commercial sensitivity in doing that but our UK colleagues have continued to have some anxieties about it I'm hoping that as a result of Wednesday's conversation we will have an agreement by the start of next week and then we will be able to publish the information which we have and which as I say because it's historical I'm just struggling a bit to understand why it would be sensitive in a commercial sense as soon as we have an agreement we will publish. Rob thank you over to Thomas Moody at the South Wales Argus. Thank you First Minister. I wanted to ask first about the 1664 year olds at risk group is there a sort of sub priority list as it were where people with more serious underlying health conditions are prioritised and with asthma sufferers as well included in this group is there a priority for people who take or steroids or people who have to over people who have to use inhalers? Tom I'll just make one general remark and I might go over to Dr Lewis to explain some of the more sort of clinical approaches to prioritisation. I think one of the things we will see in the next five groups is that in order to get through the volumes that we have to get through we won't be going just five six seven down the line people will be being called in for vaccination across the the five groups and that's because we have so many hundreds of thousands of people to vaccinate that the system will need a bit of flexibility to make sure that every single appointment can be kept every single dose of vaccine can be used so I think we're going to see a bit more fluidity between the groups than we did in the first four but that will be to make sure that we complete the vaccination programme as fast as we can for everybody in relation to the people who have some clinical vulnerability I'll see if Dr Lewis can help with that. Thank you Minister yes the the only thing I would add to that really is that of course we want to immunise the most vulnerable first and for example those who may be severely immunopressed we would want to try and reach those those people first we have to go by the guidance of JCVI of course but I know that also colleagues here in Public Health Wales are working through those clinically vulnerable groups to do just that sort of assessment that you're talking about. Thanks very much Thomas. I just wanted to go back to the temporary reduction in supply that you mentioned earlier will this mean that people receiving their second dose of the vaccine will be prioritised over the next few weeks and does that mean that people in the next four groups shouldn't be too concerned if they don't get their vaccinations right away and is there any update on the when the Moderna vaccine will become available in the UK and Wales? On your middle question I think people shouldn't be anxious our promises we will get through all five groups by the spring and that is what we will do there's always going to be somebody who is first and there'll always be somebody who will be the last person to be vaccinated but everybody will be vaccinated within the time frame that we have set out. We are going to use the supply of Pfizer vaccine that we have for the second doses of people who've had their first dose because you know there's a time limit you can only have so many weeks before that second dose is necessary. In many parts of Wales the system we've had is that when you have your first jab you get the appointment for your next one so people will already have those dates in their diaries know what time they've got to turn up and where to go and we will be honouring all those appointments. On the Moderna vaccine I have not seen anything further beyond the original announcement which suggested that we would start to get a supply of that vaccine by toward the end of April of this year and as far as I know that remains the intention. Thomas thank you over to Matt Jones at the county times. Afternoon both. First Minister the tourism sector is worth more than 800 million to Paris and supports more than 11,000 jobs. Can businesses in that sector expect to be able to open for the key points of this year or will they face a second year with next to no revenue? Well I want to recognise again the importance of the tourism industry in many parts of Wales it's a basic a foundational part of the economy in many areas which is why I have said what I've said in recent weeks about working positively towards an Easter date provided provided that the conditions allow that to happen. Now as I've said a couple of times this afternoon the situation can turn from benign to difficult very quickly indeed. Looking ahead from where we are today where the number of people falling ill with coronavirus is at around 100 per 100,000 people where the positivity rate is down below 10% to where the number of people in hospitals is beginning to reduce. If that was a straight line into the future there would be things that we could hope to do for the tourism industry in that very important part of the year. The problem is that nobody can guarantee that it is a straight line into the future and the industry understands that you know. I've met with the industry a number of times over the last 12 months to hear about their concerns and to share ideas about what we can do. We will do our very best but the opening will have to be careful it'll have to be cautious and it will have to be something that can be supported in the public health context of the time and that's many weeks away from us and impossible to be more certain than I've tried to be today. Thanks Matt. Thank you and second question again this has been touched on already today but you know it's obviously something that people are quite concerned about with the winter months ending and sort of like today's on their way but people have been in lockdown out for some time it's been it's been you know probably the most depressing period of coronavirus. Is there a target for them to aim at when they can expect to see things opening up again? I know you've you've talked about Easter but is there is there maybe a more specific day or perhaps a day when you would like to you would like to see this normality the new normal. Of course thank you look I think the the key dates for people to think about are the three week cycle that we use for reviewing the coronavirus regulations. I'll be back here on Friday of next week with the outcome of a current three week review there'll be another review three weeks later on the 11th of March so those are the key dates for people to look at that is when we will be having to make these very challenging decisions balancing the absolutely understandable wish of people to have more freedom to be out of their own homes to meet with family and friends against the overriding need to maintain vigilance against this virus not to throw away everything we have achieved in these difficult months by doing things too quickly and seeing the virus come flooding back again. That will be the judgment we will be making we'll do it on that three week cycle so people have got certainty about when decisions will be made and I will always come here and make sure that the first people who know about what we're able to do are people here in Wales. Matt thank you over to Tom Magner at Caerers World Live. Thank you very much First Minister and good afternoon Dr Lewis. I'd like to hear from both of you on each of my questions. Can I firstly say our viewers don't doubt your commitment and welcome your news on the pace of vaccination but nevertheless there are concerns so as a background to my first question I've investigated an issue with the lack of free or public transport to and from the Bayfield Hospital near Swansea. I've also looked into viewer concerns about potholes across the car park causing wheelchair access difficulties. I'm pleased to say the Swansea Bay University helped or dealt with those issues so what assurance can you give that there are no what I might call Swansea type issues in the other six health board areas including the Newport Cwmbran centre for which I understand Dr Lewis your operation in responsible. Well I'll ask Dr Lewis to deal with the specific but in general Tom this is a programme that has been mobilised at astonishing speed as I said this is the 66th day so that's all we've been going in 66 days and week by week we are adding new venues to try and make it more convenient and more possible for people to take up vaccination we're using premises we've never used before and they are going to be places where some things are a bit rough and ready to begin with and then we can improve them the you know what helps us most of all is to hear the actual lived experience of people who tell you what it's been like to go somewhere because just as in Swansea Bay I'm sure that once the system is alerted to issues that need to be put right everybody will be keen to do that and intelligence from the ground that people are actually turning up for vaccination is probably the most valuable intelligence we get in order to make sure that if there are teeth in troubles anywhere we put them right as fast as we can. Thank you Minister and hello Tom. My role in Cwmbrannan Newport is as a vaccinator and providing medical supervision but I do know that the Anirin Bevan health board who are responsible for the operational running of those centres would have a very nimble approach to any problems that people have encountered in either getting there or having any difficulty when they are physically there so just as Swansea Bay did and just as the Minister has said you know we need to address these problems as they crop up some of that is down to the speed of the roll out of course it's bound to happen but the second part of my answer I suppose is important because we recognise that not every setting is suitable for every individual and that's why having a mixed model of vaccine delivery is so critical so that if a mass vaccination centre is not suitable for an individual they will have other alternatives for example at a GP surgery or other setting and that's a really important consideration because we need to understand people's needs if we're to meet those vaccination targets. Thank you. Thank you very much indeed for that we'll be sure to keep you in touch with any developments. I'm grateful First Minister for your reference to unpaid carers in your opening statement today and a couple of weeks ago you agreed that unpaid carers would explicitly be included in the main text of band six aiming to end confusion over where unpaid carers in Wales sat in the priority list. These processes obviously take time but as late as yesterday our viewers were still seeing public health Wales leaflets without the correct wording. What update and assurances can you both give that unpaid carers are not going to be forgotten or their needs excluded in the push to vaccinate as some of that viewers are saying they feel they might be considered the vaccine hesitant when that is far from the truth. Thank you. No thanks very much Tom. Look any new material that we are producing we are making sure that we took up the points that you'd raised with us and making the information more explicit it's inevitable that there are some leaflets still in circulation from prior to when those changes were made but I can assure you that you know what the Welsh Government wants to see is anything new we produce is done in is producing a way that is helpful as possible to people and it's been very useful to have heard from you and carers organizations to help us in that regard. We want people to come forward. It's been a real theme of this afternoon anybody who feels that they may have been left behind now is the time to come forward because we want to make sure that that offer of vaccination is with you and it's a really important point that Dr Lewis made which I'm keen to reemphasise. If you've been made an offer that just isn't suitable for you please don't think that you've got to take it because you won't get another one. All you have to do is explain that that doesn't work for you in your circumstances and we know that unpaid carers will always or very often have complex circumstances they have to navigate. If that offer isn't the right one for you let us know because there will be other possibilities and you will never be disadvantaged because you need to have a response from our system that is responsive to your needs and your circumstances. That's how we want the system to run. I understand that people are hesitant, are fearful, are afraid that if they make a fuss as people think that somehow that's the wrong thing to do actually we'd much rather know because then we can get you the service that you need. We are I think Sally's agreeing with that. So Tom thank you very much as ever for raising those points and last of all today over to Andrew Natall at the leader. Thank you minister. This has already been touched on by of the mad accounting times. You'll know how important the hospitality and the tourism sector is to various parts of Wales. It is quite common here in north Wales as well. We spoke to several businesses over the last few weeks and indeed months that continue to have some concerns that even though they've had financial back in they're just keen to get their doors back open doing what it is that they love to do as to serve customers and make their business a real go of it. Can you commit to sort of publishing like we had in the summer sort of road map ideals as a rough guide for these businesses so that they've got some sort of time frame or date in mind as to know that they can expect reopening or if they're not going to get something like this is there a way that they'll get sort of similar notice like schools have had in the last couple of weeks. No thank you Andrew. I'm glad to hear that the firms have had financial backing but I know absolutely that they'd rather be trading. They'd rather be earning a living than waiting for a Welsh government cheque to arrive. So you will know that on the 14th of December we published our coronavirus control plan with its four alert levels. We've committed now to refreshing that plan because the plan was drawn up before the new variant was known about and before the vaccination programme really got underway. So we are going to go back check that the plan is still fit for those new developments, republish it because I think it will give people the best indication we can. As you know it tells people what can happen at each of the four levels. It tells people where the virus will need to be in order to move to those levels and in an uncertain world I think it is the closest to giving people a plan for the future that we can sensibly offer at this time and I'm hoping that that refreshed plan will be published before very long at all. Thank you and sort of shifting back towards schools and going forward. Should people expect nothing but limited relaxations to be made on a wider scale for the general public in the short term until all school people are back in the classroom and then sort of in an ideal world when do you hope to achieve that sort of that goal if you were of all people back in the classrooms we've had about 12 months of disruption now to their education I suppose in general their general childhood and that they can never get back I suppose. No look those are really important points you're only a child once and what our children and young people have lost is not just education it has been everything you get from growing up alongside other people of your own age which is why the Welsh Government's continuing top priority is to get young people back into face-to-face learning starting as we are with the very youngest children looking to see what we can do for those young people who are facing qualifications where face-to-face demonstration of the skills that they have acquired has to be part of the way that those qualifications are assessed we announced over 25 million pounds worth of additional help for the further education sector this week and that is because the further education sector is where many of those young people are to be found people who are learning trades and where it's a mixture of classroom learning and practical demonstration of the skills that that you need so I wish I could give a more definitive timetable that I'm able to do on this as many other things today it's a really important start on the 22nd of February we will need to make sure that we learn from that experience because of what I said earlier about the transmissibility of the new variant but as soon as we are able to demonstrate that that has been a success we will build on that further get more children back into face-to-face learning it will not be like it was before coronavirus ever happened it won't be every child back every day in every classroom we're going to have to be more flexible and more imaginative and creative than that but I'm very encouraged by the way in which our trade union colleagues and our local education authority colleagues have come around the table together with us to contribute those ideas so that we maximise the scope we have to put the needs of those young people first and to begin to restore some sort of normality into their lives. Andrew Dylch yn fawr, thank you very much thanks to everybody for today.