WALES' Health Minister Vaughan Gething has described mandatory vaccination as “the most extreme and most unlikely outcome possible”.

Mr Gething told a press conference on Monday that it was “certainly not any part of our working assumption” in Wales.

“I’ve never tried to mandate vaccine provision in the several years that I’ve been a minister in the health department, as deputy or as a Cabinet minister,” Mr Gething said.

“I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere close to that this time around.

“This is really about wanting to have safe and effective vaccines that are available for the public. I do not expect and I do not plan to try to mandate those, we want to make them available for the public.”

Mr Gething said he had always been “deeply sceptical” about the benefits of mandatory vaccination and was not “particularly keen to try to change the law for that to happen”.

“I’m interested that people understand the evidence about the safety of a vaccine, then making the right choice to protect them, their family and their community,” he said.

During the briefing, Mr Gething stresses the seriousness of coronavirus, confirming that figures suggested it was eleven times more deadly that flu.

Mr Gething explained the differences and why people are being asked to make changes to the way we live our lives.

"Every year we have a flu vaccines free to everyone at the greatest risk," said Mr Gething.

"Flu is a nasty virus that causes a nasty illness.

"Flu kills young and old alike."

He added that we have vaccines and we make changes to our behaviour during the winter, for instance avoiding people who are coughing and sneezing.

We also have some immunity from flu.

But with coronavirus, said Mr Gething, "our bodies do not yet know how to fight it".

There have been more than 53.5 million cases worldwide and dat least 1.3m people have died of coronavirus.

"Unlike flu, we do not have a vaccine, although many are in development," said Mr Gething.

"There are no treatments that can prevent coroanvirus, but we have learned a lot.

"Many people who have recovered from coronavirus corninue to experience a range of health problems - so called 'long covid'.

He added that around 15 per cent of people who contract coronavirus develop serious respiratory illness, and about five per cent become critically ill.

The overall fatality ratio for coronavirus is around 1.15 per cent,, whereas for flu, according to the World Health Organisation, is 0.01 per cent, said Mr Gething.