Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is opening the Vale of Glamorgan's first Mass Vaccination Centre today [8 February] in Barry.

It is the third centre of its kind to be opened by Cardiff and Vale University Health Board as part of its COVID-19 Mass Vaccination programme, alongside those in Splott and Pentwyn in Cardiff.

The new Mass Vaccination Centre will bolster vaccination capacity in the Health Board area, alongside mobile vaccination teams vaccinating care homes and people who are housebound, a satellite clinic at University Hospital Llandough for staff and the public, and GP practices throughout the area all delivering the vaccine.

The new centre in Barry will initially operate at a capacity of 500 vaccines per day with capacity increasing in line with the Health Board's vaccine supply. The first appointment is booked at 1pm on Monday 8 February.

The programme is on target to have offered the first dose of the vaccine to everyone in JCVI priority groups 1-4 by mid-February, subject to vaccine supply to the region. So far, more than 80,000 people in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan have received their first dose of the vaccine.

Fiona Kinghorn, Executive Director of Public Health at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, said: "Today marks two months to the day since the Mass Vaccination Programme began here in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, and I am delighted that we have reached another important milestone with the opening of our third Mass Vaccination Centre.

"I would like to thank every individual who has contributed to our excellent progress during the past two months, I am incredibly proud of what has so far been collectively achieved.

"We remain on course to have offered the first dose of the vaccine to everyone in JCVI Priority groups 1-4 by mid-February, and will continue to work hard to vaccinate the population of Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan as quickly as possible beyond this.

"In the meantime, I would ask our communities to remain patient as we work through our priority groups. We will contact you to offer your vaccination appointment at the very earliest opportunity."

The Health Board is currently working to offer the first dose of the vaccination to the final remaining people within JCVI priority groups 1-4. If you are in these groups and are yet to have received your appointment, you should expect to be contacted very shortly. Details for people in further priority groups will be available soon.