Minutes:
The
Director for Public Health (South Tees) provided the Panel with an update on
Covid and made the following points:
·
Middlesbrough
was consistently high in terms of infection rates, both locally and nationally.
·
There
had been a significant increase in positive tests.
·
While
the 19-29 age range seemed to show the most prevalent Covid rates there were
indications the over 60’s were also seeing an increase in infection rates.
·
There
were 54 in-patients being treated for Covid at James Cook Hospital who were not
exclusively younger or unvaccinated.
·
There
was a consensus the vaccine helped should an individual become infected.
·
In
terms of schools; there were 88 closed school bubbles across 28 schools.
·
There
was also concern that high infection rates would impact on front line service
provision.
·
Middlesbrough
had a vaccination rate of 72% for a single dose, with 56% of over-18s having
had both doses.
·
There
was a continuing concern that a small but significant number of over 50s had
not had either dose of the vaccine.
·
Primary
Care Networks had tried to remove, or at least reduce, barriers to booking
processes for the vaccine. Examples included offering drop-in sessions.
·
There
were also various communication initiatives being deployed in order to
encourage vaccination take up, including dedicated social media pages and the Make Every Contact Count initiative.
This included important information for front-line staff who could use it to
encourage vaccination take-up.
·
The
Panel also heard that SAGE expected high numbers of infections until the end of
August 2021. The main impacts from such high levels of infections included
hospital admissions, work absences and PCR testing potentially not being as
effective in detecting new variants.
·
SAGE
also advised a more gradual relaxation of Covid restrictions rather than rapid
relaxations. It was noted that this seemed at odds with government policy.
The Chair
commented the number of infections for 16-29 year olds was high and that Middlesbrough
had always followed other areas’ infection rates by approximately two weeks. It
was clarified it was uncertain if this would be the case this time. It was also
confirmed that it was difficult to create accurate modelling to predict future
infection rates.
The Panel
were also made aware that Long Covid could be prevalent in approximately 5,000
people in Middlesbrough which would be compounded should infection rates rise.
However, it was also clarified that accurately quantifying this was difficult.
A Member
queried how many people in the town had not been vaccinated and it was
confirmed this stood at 4,618. While this was decreasing it was doing so
slowly. It was clarified that some of that group had underlying health
conditions or were anxious about the vaccine whereas others were opposed to the
vaccine on principle.
The Panel
heard information was provided to front line staff to encourage vaccination
take up, but was not an enforcement tool. Ultimately, the Council’s position on
this issue was limited as to what it could achieve. Its position was one of
influence and education rather than punitive action.
It was also
commented that, generally, there was less take-up for the vaccine in younger
age groups, but that Long Covid was still a significant risk for those age
groups.
It was
queried if Long Covid affected women to a greater degree than men. While there
was no definitive data on this, there was still much to learn about the effects
of Long Covid. It was also confirmed efforts with key stakeholders had been
made to reach all cohorts of people.
In response
to a query about vaccination among the homeless, it was clarified that clinics had
been established to make the vaccine available for hard to reach groups,
including asylum seekers. It was established that getting the vaccine was easy
unless there were other significant life pressures.
It was also
clarified the Council was working with the school holiday fund with the
intention of mitigating the impact of school attendance.
The Chair
thanked the Director of Public Health for his presentation.
AGREED that:
1. The Director of Public Health
provide Members with the information supplied to front line staff used to
encourage vaccination take up and;
2. The
information provided be noted.