Hartlepool health centre ‘inundated’ with requests from under 50s asking for Covid-19 vaccine

It came as Craig Blundred, Hartlepool director of public health, provided an update on the number of people receiving the vaccine in the borough.

Councillors had queried whether news of some countries in Europe suspending the AstraZeneca vaccine is leading to more people becoming hesitant to receive it.

However Dr Graham Trory, GP at Hartlepool Health Centre, said residents are still responding positively to the vaccine and they are ‘inundated’ with requests from younger age groups about when they can get it.

He said: “Regarding the news about the blood clots, there were a number of enquiries to our practices, but not as many as we feared, and everybody was happy to accept that it was still a good thing to have the vaccine and nobody declined it.

“We’ve been inundated with people who are under 50 asking when is mine due, so I don’t think there’s going to be a huge turning it down of that age group.

“It still seems quite positive actually, there will be a minority though, but hopefully just a minority.”

Karen Hawkins, from Tees Valley Clinical Commissioning Group, said they have received information from national health bodies that evidence states there is no link between the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab and blood clots.

She added they are encouraging people to go and get their Covid vaccine when they are asked to do so, and offering reassurances in regard to the safety of vaccinations.

Mr Blundred added around 33% of the eligible population in Hartlepool had already received their vaccination, with work ongoing with different groups to encourage more people to take the vaccine.

He said: “We are aware that there are some anti-vaxx movements and people trying to promote that in the town, we’ve seen that with various posters going up and various stickers and information all over the place.

“We want to try and get a better understanding of what the population is thinking, or what subsets of the population are thinking, and understanding that so we can tailor our messaging.

“But at the moment there does seem to be quite a strong showing in terms of uptake of the vaccination.”

Figures from Mr Blundred, presented to the Hartlepool outbreak control engagement working group, stated to date 91% of over 80s had been vaccinated, along with 94% of those aged 75 to 79 and 90% of those 70 to 74.

Meanwhile 73% of 65 to 69 year olds and 53% of 60 to 64 year olds have been vaccinated to date.

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