Presentation of the Consultant in Public Health and the Head of Neighbourhoods

This presentation focuses on the vaccination programme and how communities have worked together to support its roll-out.

The Committee received a presentation of the Consultant in Public Health and the Head of Neighbourhoods which focused on the vaccination programme and how communities had worked together to support its roll-out.

Officers referred to the main points and themes within the presentation which included:

• First and second dose coverage;
• Inequalities in vaccine coverage broken down by ethnicity, ward and deprivation;
• Work to increase coverage; and
• The important role of volunteers.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• To thank everyone involved for their work, including the volunteers;
• Positive experiences of vaccination centres;
• Vaccination of students and what could be done to encourage more young people to be vaccinated;
• In the prioritised wards, what had been the response to the direct engagement with residents to encourage vaccine take-up;
• That there was confusion among some residents about how effective the vaccines were against the Delta variant and that this should be made clearer in vaccination campaigns;
• The difference in vaccine take-up rates between different groups and could mosques, churches and temples be used as vaccination sites over a longer period;
• That there should be more walk-in vaccination centres, as some people were not registered with a GP, and that schools and colleges should be considered as locations for these; and
• Take-up of the second dose.

The Consultant in Public Health informed the Committee that her service was working closely with the universities to get as many students vaccinated as possible before they went home for summer and that in the eight prioritised wards vaccines had been offered to people aged 18 and over earlier than nationally.  She also explained work taking place to promote vaccination to young people more broadly and reported that a Young People’s Engagement Plan had been developed.  The Executive Member for Health and Care stated that she would send Members more information about this work.  She advised that the response of young people to the vaccination programme had been positive so far and that messages about testing and self-isolating also needed to be communicated to this age group.  A Member asked that some data on why particular areas were being targeted be shared to tackle some of the myths about this.

The Head of Neighbourhoods advised that the response to the direct engagement with residents had been mixed because the people being approached were the ones who had not responded to the vaccination campaign so far.  She advised that her service would be offering more help to enable people to access the vaccine, for example, helping people with booking an appointment or with their transport needs if they were struggling to get to a vaccination site.

The Consultant in Public Health advised that two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine provided a very good level of protection against serious illness and death from the Delta variant and that one dose still had some effectiveness.  She advised that she would take forward the point that the vaccination campaign should communicate more about its effectiveness against the Delta variant. 

The Consultant in Public Health advised that in each ward consideration was being given as to where was the best place in that area for a pop-up or walk-in vaccination centre and that schools were considered.  She reported that more people could be vaccinated at a fixed site than at a pop-up vaccination site but it was recognised that pop-ups were popular so a balance between the two was needed.  She advised that take-up of the second dose was generally good but that it varied across different communities and different parts of the city and also depending on the vaccine, as coverage in the media about the Astra Zeneca vaccine had deterred some people.  She advised that people who had not attended for their second dose were being contacted to find out why and discuss any concerns they had.

Decision

To note the report.