‘Majority’ of people in our hospitals with Covid-19 are unvaccinated
LARGE PROPORTIONS OF OUR DEPRIVED COMMUNITIES HAVE NOT HAD JAB EITHER
THE “majority” of Derbyshire people hospitalised with Covid-19 are unvaccinated and large proportions of the county’s most deprived communities have not had vaccines either.
These key pieces of analysis come as the county and city’s healthcare services commemorate the anniversary of the first Covid-19 jabs in Derbyshire.
On December 8, 2020, the first jabs were administered at Royal Derby Hospital and Chesterfield Royal Hospital.
On the anniversary, healthcare officials talked about the monumental benefits that have been witnessed from the roll-out along with the difficulties and uncomfortable truths.
Around 85 per cent of all Derbyshire residents aged 12 and above – more than 800,000 – have had one vaccine, gaining the prospect of protection from the virus.
These were administered at huge sites such as Derby Arena, along with leisure centres, churches and pharmacies, but also in people’s homes with staff trekking to vulnerable residents through snowstorms.
Dean Wallace, Derbyshire’s public health director, says this has taken the county from an exposed position – relying purely on social distancing, face masks and hand hygiene to stem the spread and impact of the virus – to one of a strong defence.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that without vaccinations “let’s be honest, we would probably be in a position right now where we would be entering a lockdown...we would be in real trouble”.
Mr Wallace also highlighted that vaccine uptake remains lowest in areas which are already more vulnerable – with more existing health conditions and jobs which cannot be carried out at home.
He said: “Unfortunately, the health inequality still exists, we had health inequality before, we had it during (the pandemic) and we are going to see it after, potentially worse than it was before. You can find correlation between areas where vaccine uptake is lower and people who have to go out to work more and mix more, which creates more risk, so infection rates are higher.
“Those are also the same communities who potentially have other avoidable risk factors such as tobacco use and poor quality housing, multiple-occupancy housing, affordable warmth issues etc.”
Looking at the most recent vaccination data provided by NHS England, we can see that while around 85 per cent of eligible Derbyshire residents have had a Covid vaccine, there are substantial pockets where communities remain significantly unvaccinated. Overall, more than 147,000 eligible residents remain unvaccinated across Derbyshire.
Three areas of the county, all in Derby, have seen less than 55 per cent of their 12-plus population vaccinated against the virus, despite extensive and targeted efforts from health and local authority officials over the past year.
In the New Normanton area, 51.78 per cent of residents aged 12-plus have had a Covid vaccine, followed by 52.75 per cent in Rose Hill and Castleward, and 54.92 per cent in Normanton North and Pear Tree. These are some of the most deprived communities in the county and across the Midlands.
This contrasts to significantly higher vaccination rates in more affluent areas, with 93.17 per cent of residents aged 12-plus in Dronfield South having had a Covid vaccine, followed by 93.03 per cent in Hathersage, Bradwell and Tideswell and 92.96 per cent in Chesterfield borough’s Brookside and Walton.
Mr Wallace continued: “If you look at what would have been happening with these sorts of infection rates before the vaccination programme, we would have had far more people in hospital, putting loads of pressure on the NHS and social care. Other measures have become a helpful lift to the vaccination programme.
“(Hospital inpatient figures) are about seven times under where we would have been with the infection rates we have got, which is massive.”
Dr Steve Lloyd, executive medical director of the Derby and Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group, confirmed the “majority” of hospital inpatients with Covid in Derbyshire are unvaccinated.
He says the vaccine has done its job in ensuring that the most adverse reactions to the virus are avoided, with vaccinated residents remaining out of hospital or the intensive care unit, with far fewer people dying from the disease, too.
The CCG talks of a recent report using known hospitalisation rates showing the vaccination programme has prevented more than 9,700 people having to be admitted to Royal Derby Hospital, and kept nearly 1,400 from ending up in ICU.
Dr Robyn Dewis, Derby’s public health director, said there was a “really clear” difference now between both the number of people ending up in hospital and of those who do, requiring intensive care largely as a result of vaccination. In addition, she says, far fewer people are dying as a result of the disease.
She said that while the vaccine might not prevent the spread of Covid-19, it does limit the risk of serious illness and “you are much more likely to end up in hospital if you are unvaccinated”.
Meanwhile, Dr Lloyd said: “The unvaccinated are uniquely vulnerable to Covid and people should not be complacent and believe that because they are fit or healthy or younger that it won’t affect them, and that doesn’t account for the effects of long Covid.
He said individual health circumstances do affect the likelihood of people ending up in hospital after contracting Covid-19 but said: “The data does show that for the vaccines, there are significantly reduced hospitalisations and mortality.
“The majority (of Covid hospital patients) are unvaccinated, taken overall the admissions in both the acute ward settings and in critical care tend to be the unvaccinated.
“For those people who are hesitant I would say to think very carefully. It is not just about protecting yourself personally – although that is very important, obviously, especially for those with vulnerabilities – it is about protecting your loved ones.
“Think about protecting the community you live in and think about, actually, the majority of people actually take up the vaccine offer, that tells you that people have thought this through and for us all to come out of this pandemic it does require that vaccination to help us. Think about yourself and your responsibility to the community. It isn’t just about protecting the NHS, think about protecting yourself and those close to you and your communities.
“I completely understand people’s hesitancy but we, as a humanity, are still faced with a huge challenge in the pandemic and it is still not done with us yet, with a new variant emerging, so it is important for us to reduce the transmission of this virus.”
The University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust continues to say it does not have available information on the vaccination status of its Covid hospital patients, but says it is recorded.
Mr Wallace and Dr Lloyd say the vaccination roll-out shows what can be achieved when the healthcare system works together.
Dr Lloyd said: “It is hard to believe we have achieved so much in 12 months. It gives me great pleasure that across the healthcare system and working with local authority partners and the fire service and police, that we have been able to get to this point.
Mr Wallace said: “It shows what you can do when everyone pulls around a common cause instead of pulling in all sorts of different directions.”
They concede that the roll-out has put further immense pressure on services and healthcare staff. This has meant support from an army of volunteers, many of whom were retired health professionals, has proved vital in ensuring the programme can be maintained and that places like hospitals remain sufficiently staffed.