All focus on 'return to normality' is hampering vaccine uptake among youngsters

COVID-19 vaccine uptake in some parts of England like Manchester has reduced drastically over the past fortnight, media reports claimed, with health experts blaming the government for sending mixed messages, presenting "a false sense of security”, with all the focus on the “return to normality” on July 19. 

Covid-19 vaccine take-up has particularly slowed among people under the age of 30 in the last three weeks after an initial surge of enthusiasm, The Guardian reported. Officials-in-charge at Manchester, one of the badly affected areas owing to the spread of Delta variant, are now using local social media influencers to spread the word, along with “myth-busting ambassadors on WhatsApp groups”.

Last month, trained army personnel were deployed to help administer vaccines in Manchester, where coronavirus case rates reported to be more than twice the English average. However, vaccine stalls reportedly found almost empty on Monday (5), suggesting that the problem now is not capacity but engagement.

Just 61 per cent of the adult population in East Manchester is said to have received the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine as compared to national average of more than 86 per cent. 

A pop-up clinic in Belle Vue in Gorton was almost empty on Monday (5) afternoon while another pop-up clinic in multicultural Moss Side reported very low turnout despite the fact that  people attending the clinics did not need ID nor need to be registered with a GP, and nor did they have to prove immigration status.

Director of public health for Manchester, David Regan, claimed that people had been lulled into a false sense of security with all the focus on the “return to normality”.

“There’s a concern around the messaging getting lost in the [opening-up announcement] in terms of transmission of the Delta variant. Yes, the link between infection, hospitalisation, serious illness and death has been severely weakened, but hasn’t been completely broken,” the media outlet quoted Regan in a Thursday (8) report.

Warning that high rates of long Covid in all age groups may cause big problems further down the line, Regan said that the majority of new cases are seen among a younger working age population who are enjoying the unlocking of restrictions on hospitality, as well as England’s progress in Euro 2020.

Other areas of England with extremely low vaccine take-up rate are Sheffield inner-city districts of the Cathedral Quarter and Kelham, which have the lowest vaccination take-up rate in England of 31.8 per cent of adults with one dose and just 8.4 per cent being double-jabbed.