One in six Londoners have now received at least their first anti-Covid jab, with NHS figures showing that as of yesterday 1,457,323 Londoners had received their first dose of the vaccine out of a population of around nine million, and 63,451 also having their second administered, making 1,520,774 jabs dispensed in all.
Approximately 1.5 million Londoners fall into the top four priority groups defined by the government, so the NHS figures indicate that the great majority have taken up their vaccination offer, although “hesitancy” is still apparent among some within those categories, notably black and Asian Londoners.
The four priority groups cover care home residents and staff, frontline health and social care workers, clinically extremely vulnerable people and everyone over the age of 70.
NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens stressed at today’s Downing Street briefing that people who have not yet taken up their offer can still do so, and said that over the weekend both a mosque and a Jewish community location in Hackney had been used as vaccination centres. He said “meaningful progress” is being made against the hesitancy issue and likened misinformation and the deliberate sowing of mistrust about vaccines to a second, parallel epidemic that must be fought.
The 1.5 million London milestone has been hailed as a “landmark moment” by Labour London Assembly Member Onkar Sahota, who is an NHS doctor. He gave credit to the Conservative government while praising the “heroic” health service workforce and volunteers, but also stressed that “many challenges still remain”.
A cautious note about the virus continues to be struck by Sadiq Khan, who has today again urged Londoners to keep adhering to the lockdown restrictions. “Cases might might be dropping in London, but with the vaccines being rolled out, this is no time to break the rules,” he said on Twitter. “Every day you stay at home, you are doing your part to combat this virus.”
The number of new people testing positive for the coronavirus in the capital yesterday was reported as 893 and the most recent figure for Covid cases in London hospitals is 3,562.
Image from BBC London.
from onlondon.com
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