Leeds set to hit 100,000 Covid vaccinations milestone

Leeds City Council leader Judith Blake said the figure is a "major achievement" when she spoke at a Covid update briefing.

But concerns have been raised about "some hesitancy" among some younger front line workers taking up the offer of a vaccine.

Tom Riordan, Leeds City Council's chief executive, said 15 people were each handed £200 fines after a house party was broken up in a "student area" of Leeds on Monday.

He said the council received 63 Covid related service requests last week, mostly relating to business flouting Covid restrictions by continuing to trade.

Mr Riordan said the council issued 19 £1,000 fines, four £2,000 fines, one £4,000 fine and 19 prohibition notices and one Covid immediate restriction notice and five direction orders.

Victoria Eaton, director of public health at Leeds City Council, told the meeting: "We know in Leeds that around three quarters of our cases of Covid now are the new UK Kent variant.

"That's an estimate, but it shows there is a significant increase in the variant being with us since before Christmas, when there were very low numbers.

"Everything we do is just the same with the new variant, but we do know it is more infectious. So it just reinforces those messages about being as vigilant as we can."

Miss Eaton said there were no known cases of the South African Covid variant in Leeds.

She said there has been "slow and steady" fall of the Covid infection rate in the community in Leeds, which now stands at 231 per 100,000 people - a fall of around 25 per cent on last week's figure

Miss Eaton said: "The rate is not coming down as quickly as it has in previous waves, so it is a slow and steady fall, but it is good news it is heading in the right direction."

Miss Eaton said the vaccination programme has not had an effect on the infection rate just yet, adding: "It is reasonable to expect we will start to see some impact of the vaccination programme by the middle of this month.

"Firstly with the death rate and then with the hospital pressures and then finally we will see the impact of the vaccine on community infections."

Mis Eaton said the Leeds Health Watch weekly survey has revealed 77 per cent of people in Leeds wound be confident of taking up the vaccine.

She said: "Because we are starting with older people generally, the take up is pretty high we know more generally in the older age group.

"We are seeing some more hesitancy in younger age groups. Some of our front line workers, where the staff are younger, there is more hesitancy."

Miss Eaton said a lot of work is ongoing to help inform and educate people about the vaccination programme and answer questions and concerns people may have.

She said: "We are doing a whole load of work in the city with GP practices, with community organisations, to make sure we listen to those concerns.

"We are really committed to making sure nobody is left behind. on the vaccine programme. We are going to put a huge amount of work into supporting people to get the vaccine."

Miss Eaton added: "This is probably the most important issue for us as a city at the moment, to address questions, concerns and any hesitancy around the vaccine."

Miss Eaton said: "Generally, we are working closely with colleagues to check out percentages of confidence across the city.

"The last time we did this it was around 77 per cent of people said they would intend to take up the vaccine.

"But obviously when you look at younger age groups in the 20s and 30s that goes down, around the 40 and 50 per cent."

Mr Riordan said: "There are some really, very undermining anti vaccine messages going on social media that are just designed to undermine the approach that we have proven, through regulators, through experts like Victoria and others, GPs in the city.

Coun Blake said: "It is worth talking to young people who are subjected to the constant battering and misinformation that comes through their social media feeds.

"When they go on searches for information around this, the way the algorithms work, it means that all of that traffic gets channelled into their feeds and together we need to find a way of combating that."

"Our concern is that they are being bombarded in this way, even down to which type of vaccine they would countenance having."

Miss Eaton said: "The worst scenario for us as a city is that we have vaccinated 80 per cent of the city, but there are big parts of the city that have really low levels of vaccination.

"We really want to avoid that position because it leads us to being vulnerable to outbreaks in the future."

More easy-to-access information on the vaccine programme and its progress is among the requests being made through our A Shot In The Arm campaign.

Led by the Yorkshire Evening Post and sister titles across JPIMedia, it also asks for further reassurance for local communities and urges Prime Minister Boris Johnson to deploy the country’s network of 11,000 pharmacies to ensure that every citizen is only a short walk away from a vaccination centre.