10 February 2021

Outbreak Management Advisory Committee

Covid-19 vaccination programme update

The vaccination programme continues to work well in North Yorkshire and York and we are well on our way to achieving the target to offer all residents in cohort 1- 4 of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JVCI) list by 15 February 2021.

Our local York vaccination sites are working alongside the Vaccination Centre to direct activity in line with vaccine supply and as at the 8 February following busy weekend clinics we had vaccinated in the order of 85-90% of those eligible and we are targeting the remaining eligible patients this week in line with the supply of the vaccines.

All the focus is currently on the 1-4 cohorts, but local services are also planning the next cohort and 2nd dose clinics in line with instructions by NHS England. Practices are working to also continually identify the most clinically extremely vulnerable and plan delivery to those who meet the housebound criteria.

COVID vaccination programme numbers

The most recently published NHS England figures show that Humber, Coast and Vale has carried out a total of 295,369 vaccinations (counting both first and second doses). Across the North East and Yorkshire, the total number of cumulative vaccinations carried out since the programme began is 1,352,946.

Care home vaccinations

Since my last update on 13 January 2021 members of the committee will be aware, through national media that the NHS have successfully achieved 100% offered vaccines to all care homes in England. In the City of York, we have worked closely with our care homes to ensure that all patients are vaccinated, in particular those whose vaccines were delayed initially because of a positive COVID-19 result.

Health and care staff

The JCVI has put patient-facing health and social care staff into a priority group because of their heightened risk of exposure to the virus. Employers have been asked to offer the vaccine to the most at risk healthcare workers first. With many more doses now expected over the coming weeks, employers will be widening this out and protecting staff as soon as possible.

The NHS is experienced in vaccinating staff quickly and safely. The Humber, Coast and Vale vaccination programme office is working with local NHS and health and social care employers to offer all eligible staff the opportunity to take it up over the coming weeks and months. The health and social care cohort includes:

§ Staff employed by the NHS

§ Social care staff employed by local authority

§ Third sector/private organisations

§ Privately employed individuals

§ Private contractors/individual practitioners

§ Large national/regional organisations

§ Funeral operatives

Locally, health and social care have been directed to Hospital Hubs and the Vaccination Centre and we continue to work with employers and independent practitioners to ensure we are targeting all eligible individuals with support of the NHS England Regional team.

Vaccine supply

To ensure all of those people in the top priority groups can get vaccinated quickly, targeted deliveries are being made to areas where there are more people left to vaccinate in the priority cohorts. This has been a national decision.

While deliveries of the vaccine to local sites will vary in line with available supply, crucially each region of the country is getting a fair share of doses for them to get priority groups of people vaccinated, as advised by the JCVI. Because communities vary hugely in size and demographics, areas yet to vaccinate the most at-risk groups of people are being targeted with the doses they now need, to get priority cohorts protected.

Fraudulent vaccine messages

One final point is the saddening news that there are increasing reports around the country of fraudulent messages being sent to people offering a vaccine in an attempt to steal personal and financial information. The NHS will never ask for banking details, account numbers, pins or passwords, or for copies of personal documents such as a driving licence, passport or payslip.

If anyone receives a message requesting this information it is a fraudulent message. Health and Local Authority partners are working hard on joint communication events on the vaccination programme including address fraudulent approaches.

Stephanie Porter

Interim Director for Primary Care and Population Health