Hartlepool councillor slams 'irresponsible Government' over 'vaccine euphoria'

It came as Craig Blundred, Hartlepool’s director of public health, warned although there has been positive news in regards to the vaccine, people will be living with Covid-19 for ‘some time yet’.

Speaking to the audit and governance committee, he also again warned people must be wary of Covid-19 around the Christmas period, despite rates dropping in Hartlepool.

Mr Blundred said: “There is a lot of euphoria about the vaccine, it is good news yes, but it’s going to take a while before everyone is vaccinated.

“It’s going to take a while before we get that immunity across the community and I think we’re going to be living with Covid for some time to come.

“We are not out of the woods yet, absolutely not, we need to be continuing all of these measures for some time to come.

“We’ve come this far and the residents of Hartlepool have done an amazing job so far with the restrictions and what we’ve had to live through, and to throw it away now at Christmas would be problematic.”

Speaking at the meeting, he noted as of December 5, Hartlepool’s case rate was 219 per 100,000, down from 268 the previous week.

RELATED: 'Long Covid' in Hartlepool: GPs seeing influx of patients with 'really unusual symptoms' - new service to launch supporting people suffering long-term effects

Cllr Brenda Harrison warned residents not to get caught up in the ‘euphoria’ of the vaccine, adding it will still be some time before normality resumes.

She said: “The vaccine, there is this euphoria nationally over this vaccine and I think it’s totally irresponsible of the Government and other people.

“It’s not on, because if you listen to people who seem to know what they’re talking about, they’re talking about another year before we might even feel comfortable about this situation.

“This euphoria has to go and the message has to get out that this is not the answer to everything, and even if you do get the vaccination, it’s not saying that everything’s hunky dory and is okay.”

Mr Blundred also stressed although the case rate is decreasing in Hartlepool, it is still too high, especially considering restrictions are set to be relaxed over Christmas to allow bubbles to be formed.

He also reiterated the importance of residents getting tested if they show symptoms of Covid-19, which include a high temperature, a new, continuous cough, and losing smell or taste.

Mr Blundred said: “The more people we get tested, the more cases we find and then we can get people to isolate which means we can stop the spread.

“Whilst it is coming down and has come down quickly, we’ve come down from a high rate of cases, and that will still be classed as a high rate of cases as well, so we do still have more work to do.

“There’s good news on the horizon but we really don’t want to let our guard down yet. We still need to be maintaining the guidelines around social distancing and we need to be doing that for some time to come.”

Hartlepool has walk-through Covid-19 testing centres at the Headland Town Square and at Grayfields car park in Jesmond Gardens, along with a mobile drive-through unit at the Waterfront.

Support your Mail and become a subscriber today. Enjoy unlimited access to local news, the latest on Pools and new puzzles every day. With a digital subscription, you can see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Click here to subscribe.