COVID Vaccination rates in Scarborough are causing some concern for local health bosses.
As the remaining COVID legal restrictions end, North Yorkshire's health leaders say there are 41,000 people in the county who are yet to be vaccinated, that's around ten per cent of the population.
The county's Chief Nurse - Sue Peckitt - says they are now seeing little take up for jabs in the Scarborough area.
Sue Peckitt - says the numbers show Scarborough is one of the areas where vaccine take up rates are lower than elsewhere.
Sue said vaccine take up was lowest amongst 18 to 29-year-olds, followed by 30 to 39-year-olds.
The larger vaccination centres are now being wound down. The clinics at Scarborough rugby Club stopped earlier in the month.
Vaccines are now being redirected to pharmacies and GP surgeries where an additional booster dose will be offered to all adults over-75 and the most vulnerable over-12s this spring.
An autumn booster programme, aimed at a wider group of people, is also planned later this year.
Pharmacies and GP surgeries will also be used to vaccinate children aged five to 11 from April.
This extension of the rollout comes after months of deliberation over the benefits and risks before official scientific advice concluded the move would help protect the “very small” number of children who become seriously ill with Covid.
As of yesterday, all remaining legal Covid restrictions in England have been removed as part of the prime minister’s “Living with Covid” plan.
It means people who test positive are no longer legally required to self-isolate, although they are still advised to do so.
The decision has come as a surprise to some health officials who have questioned what the changes will do to the spread of the virus.
North Yorkshire’s weekly infection rate is currently at 412 cases per 100,000 people – its lowest level since mid-December.
Dr Victoria Turner, public health consultant at North Yorkshire County Council, describes this as a “much improved” picture.
She also said although many people will have some immunity from vaccines or previous infection, people should still be cautious about the virus now all restrictions have ended.
Dr Turner said:
“There is a very high proportion of the population that will have a degree of immunity, whether through vaccination, direct exposure to the virus or both.
“What that doesn’t mean though is you are therefore immune from getting the virus again.”
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