Mass Covid vaccines for Leeds from January announced in council plans

Interim results have been published for three vaccines, with each found to be safe and effective.

Most recently, the vaccine being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca published results showing that it is between 62 and 90 per cent effective, and the UK has ordered 100 million doses.

The vaccines developed by both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech have both been shown to be at least 90 per cent effective.

Leeds City Council’s director of public health, Victoria Eaton, has confirmed the council is working with the NHS to plan how to deploy the vaccines in Leeds.

Vaccination sites are being considered within the NHS, but also in community settings in Leeds.

Health and care workers, people over 80 and care home residents will be the first to get a vaccine - which could be rolled out as early as December.

The mass-vaccination of the public in Leeds is expected to start early in the new year.

Speaking at a meeting today, Ms Eaton said: "It's really positive news about where we are heading with the vaccine, both before Christmas and in the new year.

"We've got this great news that we have three potential vaccines. We're well on track with our plans with NHS colleagues about how we want to deploy those in Leeds.

"We're looking at a variety of sites both in the NHS and in broader community settings - looking at what that plan might look like, which is at scale for a city the size of Leeds.

“It will start with health and care workers, people who are over 80 and also care home residents, but will very quickly in the new year move to mass-vaccination of the public.

This is a real priority to make sure we get this right for the city and we want to make sure that everything else we do supports that goal."

The council confirmed that Leeds could be back into Tier 2 local lockdown by Christmas, following drops to the city's Covid infection rate.

The Tier restrictions for each area will be reviewed on December 16, and at that point Leeds could be put into the less strict Tier 2 if the city's infection rates continue to go down by then.

Council Leader Judith Blake said she was 'very disappointed' about the announcement that Leeds is going into Tier 3 and spoke of the impact on the hospitality sector in the city.

She said: "We are very disappointed to be in Tier 3 at this stage and we feel very deeply for all of those people in the hospitality sector and entertainment sector who are so affected by the restrictions under Tier 3.

"We have had the opportunity to speak to ministers this afternoon and stress the importance of the next two weeks and the review period.

"We want them to really understand how the infection rates are going down but also the devastating impact of closing our hospitality sector in the run up to Christmas and what that will mean.

"The review will take place on the 16th and if the government feel we are still moving in the right direction there is a real chance we could move down into Tier 2 in December

"We want to work to keep getting the public health message so that everyone has a part to play. I feel we can move in the right direction and hopefully move down into Tier 2 to help more businesses to operate.

"We are dismayed by the lack of additional funding for businesses in Tier 3. We feel devastated by the lack of support that businesses are getting at this moment in time and so many jobs are dependent on the businesses affected by this.

“It’s a very challenging time but also a time we do need to reflect and thank everyone for the work they’re doing this far and encourage everyone to continue the good work we need to get through this.”