Nearly all in the priority groups have had 1st jab
BOTH STAFFORDSHIRE AND DERBYSHIRE ABOVE 96%
MORE than 97 per cent of people in Staffordshire in the priority groups have now had their first coronavirus vaccination, the latest figures have revealed.
In Derbyshire more than 96 per cent in the priority groups have been vaccinated.
Staffordshire is now the ninth highest in the country for the number of people that have had their first coronavirus vaccination with a total of 97.3 per cent of residents in the top four priority Covid-19 vaccination groups having now had their first jabs.
The latest statistics from NHS England, showing jabs up to February 14, shows 293,761 Staffordshire residents have now had their first Covid-19 vaccine dose, up from 257,746 in the previous week of data.
Staffordshire and Stoke has vaccinated 31.54 per cent of everyone aged 16+ which puts it 13th in the country in this category, the majority of these people are likely to be of retirement age.
Somerset is top of the charts in both categories with 99.28 per cent and 35.71 per cent respectively.
However, the latest statistics will not, due to only counting jabs up to February 14, include the large increase in vaccines being given to further groups such as those aged 65 to 69 which started from February 15. That surge will show in next batch of data.
In total, 13,255 Staffordshire residents have had their second vaccine doses.
This number is set to increase rapidly through March and April, by which point it will have been the set 12 weeks between first and second Covid jabs for those who were first to have them.
In Derbyshire, the latest statistics from NHS England, showing jabs up to February 14, shows 257,746 Derbyshire residents have now had their first Covid-19 vaccine dose, up from 222,792 in the previous week of data.
This is 96.5 per cent of all those in the county and city aged 70 and above and 30.66 per cent of all those aged 16 and above, the majority of whom are likely to be of retirement age.
These statistics rank Derbyshire 16th and 15th in England respectively.
In the previous week of data the county had ranked second in England for percentage of jabs administered to those aged 70 and above.
In total, 3,695 Derbyshire residents have had their second vaccine doses.
Those vaccinated include: residents in care homes and their carers; patients ages 80 or over and frontline health and social care workers; patients aged 75 and over; and patients aged 70 and over, alongside any residents aged 16-69 who are clinically extremely vulnerable.
Health officials did expect it would be harder to achieve high turnaround in jabs as organisations reached the tail end of each priority group, to which the vaccines were restricted.
CONTROVERSIAL plans to take a wrecking ball to Uttoxeter town centre have been delayed after residents said they would signal “the last nail in the coffin for the high street”.
Officials have announced the Uttoxeter Town Centre Masterplan will go no further until after a second public consultation, which is expected to take place following council elections in May.
It comes after leaflets were posted through people’s doors by Uttoxeter Deserves Better, a campaign group formed to fight the biggest overhaul of the town centre in living memory.
The project - which has been approved - includes demolishing the run-down Maltings shopping centre and part of the neighbouring car park, replacing them with housing and a few large retail units.
The Trinity Centre and Bradley Street bus station will also be bulldozed and built over with houses, with more homes built around the derelict Wheatsheaf pub in Bridge Street.
Yesterday’s announcement follows Uttoxeter Deserves Better’s criticism of the length of time people were given to register responses to the public consultation on the plans last year - and a question-and-answer session arranged by Uttoxeter Online Facebook group founder Phil Irons.
Council planning boss and Uttoxeter councillor George Allen said: “Since participating in the Uttoxeter Online question and answer session, I have received a number of emails from residents in Uttoxeter concerned about the priority areas the plan highlights.
“Because of this direct contact from residents I have decided to set out further consultation on those areas which residents are most concerned about.
“Once restrictions are lifted, East Staffordshire Borough Council will open general consultation with residents in Uttoxeter, which will include faceto-face open days hosted in the town.
“Clearly this will need to be done once it is safe to do so but I hope residents agree this is the right thing to do and I look forward to their views and opinions about redevelopment of these key sites.”
Council leader Duncan Goodfellow, who lives in Uttoxeter and represents the Heath ward, said: “We recognise that regeneration is an area where people feel strongly and we need to ensure that Uttoxeter is fit for a post-covid world, but also one where shopping habits and behaviours have fundamentally changed.
“Our town centres need to be repopulated and re-fashioned as community hubs, including housing, health and leisure, entertainment, education, arts, business/office space and some shops.
“The key sites identified in the masterplan all contribute to these individual areas and we want to hear residents views on how each of these sites fit that vision in detail by bringing forward the next stage of consultation.”
The council says the public consultation cannot take place during the pre-election (Purdah) period, during which officials must ensure strict political impartiality, starting on March 23 for the May 6 elections.