Covid vaccine postcode lottery revealed as Midlands and North outstrip London
Vaccination of vulnerable pensioners differs tenfold between different parts of the country as part of a postcode lottery revealed by new official figures.
The first local and regional data on the vaccine rollout lays bare a significant North-South divide, with London significantly behind the Midlands and Northern areas despite suffering worse Covid case numbers in recent weeks.
In the week to January 17, the Midlands had administered 756,433 doses – including first and second jabs – more than any other English region.
In contrast, London, where the NHS is struggling to cope with a wave of seriously ill Covid patients, had administered 426,894.
The North-East and Yorkshire had achieved the second highest number of doses – 688,990 – but on Thursday night it emerged that the vaccine supply will be halved so that other regions can catch up.
At a more local level, the disparities are significantly more pronounced.
Figures for sustainability and transformational partnerships (STP) – NHS geographical areas typically covering one to three million patients – show that for Cumbria and the North-East 114,117 people aged 80 or over received a first vaccine dose up to January 17.
However, in Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin STP the number was 14,031. This amounts to 70.8 per cent coverage versus 49 per cent respectively.
On Thursday, the director of public health in Telford and Wrekin said local hospitals are under "huge pressure" because of the new Covid variant, estimated to account for 70 per cent of all cases in the borough.
The lowest area for percentage of over-80s vaccinated was Suffolk and North-East Essex at 36 per cent, followed by Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Health and Care at 43.2 per cent, with North-West London Health and Care Partnership third from bottom on 45.7 per cent.
All the London STPs were in the bottom half of the percentage list, with South-West London Health and Care Partnership best on 56.6 per cent.
It came as Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, defended the rollout operation, telling MPs that the NHS was vaccinating at a rate of 200 jabs every minute.
Mr Hancock said care home residents have now been inoculated and that the early indications are that Covid vaccines can deal with some of the newer variants of the virus.
In response to a question from Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, on the South African variant which may pose a reinfection risk, Mr Hancock said: "Obviously we are vigilant to this and keep this under close review.
"I'm glad to say that the early indications are that the new variant is dealt with by the vaccine just as much as the old variant, but of course we are vigilant to the new variants that we're seeing overseas."
The number of second doses administered by STP area also differs wildly. The new figures showed that Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Health and Care had given out just 25 to over-80s – the lowest – compared to the top scoring area of Cumbria and North-East, which had administered 19,874.
On Thursday, figures were also released for the vaccination rollout in Wales, revealing that under a quarter of people aged 80 or over had received their first dose.
Public Health Wales said 43,879 jabs had been administered – 23.9 per cent of the 183,394 people in that age group. It said 56.4 per cent of care home residents had received their first jab, totalling 9,364 out of 16,602, while 67.5 per cent of care home staff had been vaccinated.
