The Director of Public Health and Medical Director, Manchester Health and Care Commissioning, will circulate a presentation on the latest available data relating to Manchester COVID-19 rates and the Manchester Vaccination Programme. 

The Committee considered the joint presentation of the Director of Public Health and the Executive Clinical Director, Manchester Health and Care Commissioning, that had been circulated to all Members in advance of the meeting. The presentations provided an update on COVID-19 activity that included the latest available information on data and intelligence.

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

·         The Committee again reiterated their recognition and appreciation for all involved with the vaccination programme;

·         What was the correlation between COVID-19 related hospital admissions and the patients’ vaccination status;

·         The need to challenge and counter the misinformation relating to the vaccination and pregnancy that was being circulated on social media, particularly amongst young people;

·         Commenting that due to the high infection rates and transmissibility of OMICRON it was important for all to observe mask wearing, adding that this was a societal, in addition to a personal responsibility to protect everyone;

·         Patients and their families’ lived experience of COVID-19 should be used to articulate the importance of receiving the vaccination and the serious consequences of not doing so;

·         It was the responsibility for everyone to come forward and receive their vaccination and noting the vaccination rates in Manchester it was important to keep articulating this and encouraging people to come forward; and

·         Noting the recent changes announced in relation to the requirement not to obtain a PCR test following a positive LFT result, was there a possibility that this would skewer the reported infection rates as people either did not always formally record their results or were reluctant to report a positive test.

The Director of Public Health provided the Committee with the figures of those patients currently admitted to hospital with COVID-19 related illness and their vaccination status, noting that in critical care this was five times higher. He stated that this clearly demonstrated the need and importance of receiving the vaccination and booster. He stated that there was no call for mandatory vaccination in the UK and the approach was for citizens to take the vaccination on a voluntary basis, with the caveat in relation to specific professions and settings. He further commented that people who may have been hesitant may decide to take up the offer of the vaccination when they were required to provide vaccination passports to undertake travel or participate and access events.

In response to a request for more granular data on the cohorts admitted to hospital as a result of COVID-19, the Director of Public Health advised there was a challenge to providing this data in real time to report to the Committee.

The Director of Public Health informed the Committee that there was a pilot being delivered at the Etihad stadium where those people who had received their vaccination overseas could attend to have their vaccination validated, their COVID-19 passport records updated, and a booster administered where appropriate.

The Director of Public Health stated that they remained committed to work with communities and networks, including schools to address concerns people had and challenge prevailing myths to maximise the take up of the vaccination. In response to a comment regarding the infection rates across different wards and the demographic profiles he stated that this was closely monitored and analysed to understand specific trends and where appropriate deploy targeted interventions.

The Director of Public Health accepted the comment made regarding the reporting of LFT results and advised that the Communications Team were delivering a campaign to encourage people to regularly test and report the results. He added that he understood that PCR testing would resume at some point and had only been suspended temporarily as a result of the demand experienced by the service. He said that he would keep the Committee informed of these developments.  

The Director of Public Health commented that he acknowledged the comment regarding using lived experience and case studies in campaigns to promote the vaccination programme and made reference to the Communications and engagement focus slide within the pack that had been provided to Members. The Chair commented that it would be useful to have a more detailed update on the Communications strategy, both at a local and national level in a future update.

The Deputy Leader paid tribute to all staff and partners working to address COVID-19 for their continued dedication and hard work. She particularly paid tribute to the teams working in Adult Social Care who were working to safely discharge patients from hospital settings into alternative, appropriate and safe care pathways. She commented that this was testimony to the positive partnership approach to working to deliver improved health outcomes for Manchester residents.

Decision

The Committee recommend that a future update includes a detailed discussion on the vaccination and COVID-19 communications strategy, with specific discussion in relation to the measures taken to counter misconceptions and myths surrounding the vaccination, noting that the Committee request that appropriate officers are in attendance.