Bradford health leader says public need to remain vigilant as Covid vaccination begins in city

Professor Mahendra Patel, from the University of Bradford, expressed his “delight” that Covid-19 vaccinations will start rolling out across the West Yorkshire city today (14 December), but warned the public not to “drop its guard” against the deadly virus.

"I’m holding out my hand - stretching it out as far as possible - and calling people to come on board with these vaccines in the city - there is not a doubt in terms of its safety and it’s effectiveness, because that has been proven," he said.

Prof Patel, stressed, however, that it will take time and urged people to stick to the safety guidelines.

He said: "We’ve got Christmas coming up, we've got the New Year celebrations - it is important that at the same time we continue our efforts… And the protection methods - which is still the safeguarding of social distancing and wearing face masks."

Hundreds of local vaccination centres all over England will begin providing Covid jabs this week.

Care home workers and residents, as well as those aged 80, are the first groups to be able to get vaccinated.

GP practices and community hubs will begin operating as community vaccination clinics, inviting eligible local residents to receive the jabs.

The first person in Bradford is expected to be vaccinated against coronavirus today. Noreen Khan is director of the Covid Lead Programme in the city.

She said: "It's so important the vaccines are commencing today, given the devastating impact of Covid-19.

"In particular in a place like Bradford where I've seen first hand the repercussions on individuals and families.

"But we have to also inject a bit of patience as there's a priority as to who can be administered the vaccine."

Prof Patel, who since the start of the pandemic has led outreach work to highlight important health messages to BAME communities in Yorkshire and beyond, in languages other than English, including Gujarati,Hindi/Urd, added it was important for the public to remember that the vaccination programme will take "many months" to complete.

With the exact timing of plans will be subject to vaccine availability.

He said: “Message clearly is - we are still at risk and we have to make sure that we understand the gravity of this situation.

“It is still a long time before everybody will be getting the vaccine.”

Prof Patel also stressed the need for the public to remember it is a twin dose approach.

"Just because people are getting the first dose of it - they cannot think that’s going to be it, and everything is going to be hunky dory because it isn’t - you need both doses," he said. "They need to be informed that this is a twin dose approach - you need to be prepared for that."

He added for the public to also not be dissuaded by any "fake news," concerning the safety of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

"There has been a rigorous process by which they are tested and go through that approval process," he said. "The evidence is so strong for the positive benefits of having the vaccine... It’s important people don’t listen to information that is hearsay, that is not evidence based."

Prof Patel's warning comes as Salman Waqar, from the British Islamic Medical Association (BIMA), said vaccine misinformation within Muslim communities, including a false belief that the Covid-19 jab is not halal, which could undermine efforts to immunise the public.

The Berkshire-based GP said that immunisation programmes have often seen low take-up among Muslims.

This is in part because, until this year, in England and Wales flu and childhood immunisation vaccines did not allow the option of a jab that did not contain pork gelatine.

Dr Waqar, who is also an academic researcher at Oxford University, said misunderstandings around the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine - which does not contain any animal products - have been caused in part by poor communication from public health bodies.

"We are paying the price for that now because people are saying 'Oh, vaccines have gelatine', or they are just not interested in listening to us," he said.

Who will get the Pfizer vaccine first?

Vaccines are being given to the most vulnerable first, as set out in a list of nine high-priority groups, covering about a quarter of the UK population.

1. Residents in care homes for older adults and their carers

2. 80-year-olds and over and frontline health and social care workers

3. 75-year-olds and over

4. 70-year-olds and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals

5. 65-year-olds and over

6. 16 to 64-year-olds with serious underlying health conditions

7. 60-year-olds and over

8. 55-year-olds and over

9. 50-year-olds and over

When will clinics open?

Community vaccination clinics will start receiving deliveries of the vaccine today (14 Dec), with some likely to open their clinics this afternoon.

The majority of centres will begin offering the vaccination services on Tuesday (15 Dec) according to NHS England and NHS Improvement.

How will it work?

The vaccines will be administered by GPs, as well as other NHS staff, including nurses and pharmacists.

Chairman of the Royal College of GPs, professor Martin Marshall, said the vaccine rollout will be an “enormous challenge” to rollout the Covid vaccine alongside the expanded flu vaccine programme.

He also urged people to wait until they have been contacted about the vaccination.

He said, “Patients will be contacted and invited for vaccination - we would urge them not to contact their practice enquiring about vaccination, we will contact them.”

Where else are vaccines being administered?

A number of hospitals hubs began offering vaccinations last Tuesday (8 Dec).

Practising GP and NHS director of primary care, Dr Nikki Kanani, said, “This is the greatest vaccination programme ever undertaken by the NHS, and to help vaccinate people safely we will be working with local communities to deliver it in convenient and familiar settings.

“As a GP, I am proud to be part of this huge national effort to protect our patients against the virus and I would urge the public to come forward when they are called up for the vaccine.”

________________

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today.

Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you'll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers. Click here to subscribe.