A COUNCILLOR has made calls for more mobile vaccination clinics in the Amman Valley and surrounding area.

Garnant county councillor Kevin Madge said he feared people were missing out on getting a Covid-19 vaccination because of lack of transport.

“I’m hearing more and more reports of people not being able to attend appointments because they simply cannot afford the transport. They are having to prioritise – it’s either food for their family or pay for transport to get the vaccine,” he said.

Hywel Dda University Health Board is currently using a mobile vaccination van, in partnership with Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service, which has been at smaller rural locations across the health board region, including Cross Hands.

The vaccination van will deliver the vaccine to anyone aged 18 and over that requires either a first or second dose (Moderna and Oxford AstraZeneca).

The health board has said second doses of the Covid vaccine can be given eight weeks after the first dose.

Bethan Lewis, Interim Assistant Director of Public Health, said: “Over the last three weeks, we have used the mobile vaccination van to provide people with local access to the vaccine in areas where we have lower uptake.

“To date over 1,247 vaccines have been given in Cross Hands, Pembroke Dock and Llanybydder.

"Next week we aim to place the van in Ammanford."

She added: “With the rise in cases across the UK, we are urging as many people as possible to come forward for their first and second doses as soon as possible.”

Cllr Madge, the Labour opposition spokesman for social care on Carmarthenshire County Council, said while he welcomed the news of the mobile van, he has urged the health board to roll-out more mobile clinics across the Amman Valley area in the autumn when booster jabs will be offered to the over 50s.

The Garnant ward member and former leader of Carmarthenshire Council said: “I believe that it is important that our elderly and vulnerable remain protected this winter, so I am therefore calling on the health board to put more local vaccination clinics in our rural communities once again this autumn in preparation for the winter.”