Medics to prioritise 17,000 unvaccinated and vulnerable people in City and Hackney

Hackney’s health network is to prioritise the “considerably high” number of vulnerable people who have not come forward for their second jab.

According to the latest figures in City & Hackney, 17,000 people over the age of 60 or clinically extremely vulnerable are still unvaccinated, putting them at risk of serious illness, hospitalisation, and even death due to Covid.

Health workers in the borough are now focusing on making the jab “available, local and as visible as possible”, according to workstream director Siobhan Harper.

This will include reoffering all those in the top nine most vulnerable cohorts Pfizer rather than Oxford/AstraZeneca.

Briefing councillors, medics and voluntary sector partners at a recent local outbreak board, Harper said: “Our concerns at the moment on the number of people who have not come forward for their second dose, which is quite considerably high. This is a worry for us.

“There are obviously a multitude of reasons behind why that might be. Our approach has been to consider that as our remaining priority, whilst we know that the programme has been opening up nationally to younger and younger cohorts, and those who can self-serve are actively booking slots.

“As things have evolved, people’s concerns have changed slightly or become more complex, and we need to be really on top of our communications and messaging in respect of those issues and being clear about that.”

Harper also stressed that an “ongoing piece of work” continues to be progressing vaccinations for homeless people in the borough.

Figures from May 2021 in the City & Hackney Homeless Covid Vaccination report remain only partial, with Ridley Villas, Cape House and the British Red Cross day centre for destitute asylum seekers and undocumented migrants returning incomplete data.

However, figures from a range of other sites, capturing 511 people, show low figures, with 48.9 per cent having been vaccinated with at least one dose and just 28.8 per cent receiving a second.

Another area of focus for the health network is care home staff; 89.3 per cent of 290 local residents in both older and younger adult care homes have now been vaccinated with at least one dose. This compares to 47.2 per cent of 12,541 eligible staff, with just 14.5 per cent of this number vaccinated with a second dose.

Chris Lovitt, deputy director of public health, said: “Cases are rising again, and we are seeing the Delta variant spread more easily through unvaccinated populations.

“This is a real worry for me, as we have 17,000 over-60s and clinically extremely vulnerable people in Hackney who are still not yet vaccinated. The data is clear, the majority of people now hospitalised with Covid-19 are unvaccinated. It is really important to get your vaccine to keep well.”

Those aged 25 and over can now book their vaccination on the NHS portal or by calling 119. New appointments on the portal are updated regularly. 

There are also planned pop-up clinics taking place in Hackney, such as the Thursday clinics at St Leonard’s Hospital for those aged 40+ who need their first dose of the vaccine, or people who are due their second dose of Astrazeneca. Find out more.

Find out more information on the vaccination rollout and answers to some of the most frequently asked questions on the council website.