Hackney residents urged to book Covid booster before programme ends on Sunday

Only 63 per cent of people in Hackney have had a dose of Covid vaccine

People in Hackney are being urged to book the last appointments for Covid vaccines before the booster programme ends this week.

Vaccines are on offer for the over-50s and people who are  immunosuppressed or pregnant until Sunday.

More than 1.7 million Londoners have had the booster this autumn and winter in a bid to keep Covid numbers down.

However, only 36 per cent of over-50s in Hackney and the City of London have had the jab.

The first Covid vaccines were given to people in December 2020 when a mass vaccine programme began.

The illness has claimed the lives of 606 people in Hackney and the City, the most recent recorded on 13 January, when two more people died.

Vaccination rates remain low in City and Hackney, with 63 per cent of people having the first dose, and 41 per cent being fully boosted.

Sunday is also the last day of the booster campaign for anyone in the 16-49 age group who are not considered to be at risk.

The NHS will run a smaller vaccine operation after 12 February for people who are immunosuppressed and are yet to come forward for first, second or third doses.

There will be another round of Covid vaccines in the autumn and a potential spring campaign for the most vulnerable.

Professor Kevin Fenton, the director of Public Health for NHS London said: “The NHS vaccination programme has been a huge success and the biggest rollout in history and it is so important that eligible people take up the offer of a Covid booster before it is too late.

“The booster is the best way to maintain protection against the virus, that is still in circulation in our communities, and give yourself peace of mind.”

The highest number of deaths in Hackney and the City of London was recorded on 17 April 2020 – a month after the first lockdown and before vaccines became available.

December 2021 saw the highest number of recorded cases with 1,360 people suffering from a first bout of the illness and 125 people thought to have been reinfected. Home testing kits were widely available by then.

The Omicron variant was spreading at the time and face coverings were compulsory in public places as part of the government’s winter Plan B.

People were also asked to work from home and needed an NHS Covid pass to prove they had been vaccinated if they wanted to go to a nightclub or another large venue.

Details of vaccination sites can be found here.