Residents awaiting Covid jab reassured ‘no-one will be forgotten’

It emerged today (Friday) that just over half of people aged over 80 in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland have so far had their first of two jabs and six per cent have had both injections.

However, many families have expressed concerns via social media that elderly grandparents have yet to be contacted despite the roll-out being accelerated over the last week.

Andy Williams, chief executive of the three LLR Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), said: “We know that many people are anxious to receive their vaccine, and I would like to reassure them that each local area is working through their list of patients in priority order and no-one will be forgotten.”

While the proportion of over-80s who have had one dose of the vaccine in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, up to January 17, is 52.7 per cent, some areas of the country have vaccinated many more, such as Gloucestershire (85.3 per cent) and Northamptonshire (78.2 per cent).

The figures released by NHS England show that by January 17, 56,317 people in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR) had received the Covid-19 vaccine.

Of these, 27,826 doses were given to people over the age of 80.

And 28,491 were given to people under the age of 80, with almost all of these being NHS and social care frontline staff.

In addition, 5,215 individuals had received their second dose - 2,053 aged under 80 and 3,162 aged over 80.

Mr Williams said: “Whilst there is still much more to do this represents an excellent start to our local vaccination programme and is testament to the hard work of all our NHS staff, partners and volunteers who have given up their time to support our efforts.

“I would like to express my gratitude to everyone involved.

“We have continued vaccinating at pace over the past week so the real-time numbers will already be significantly higher.

“The good news is that whilst the vaccination programme got off to a staggered start, as vaccine supplies increase we expect that fair shares allocation will ensure that between now and mid-February everyone in the four highest priority groups, independently set by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, can be offered the first vaccine dose.

“We already have significant capacity within our local programme to increase the numbers of vaccinations given as vaccine availability continues to improve.”

Patients will be invited for their vaccination when it is their turn and there is no need to contact their GP practice about it.

The Melton Times has asked the local CCGs for figures for the total number of residents in the Melton borough who’ve had their Covid jabs but they say that data is not currently available.