Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Vaccine teams will hit target despite freezing weather
Just seven over-80s test positive for virus
The district’s Covid vaccine teams say they will hit the Government’s target of offering jabs to the most vulnerable residents by Monday - despite the heavy snowfall.
The impact of the successful roll-out in Canterbury is already being felt,with the number of over-80s testing positive for coronavirus now in single figures. And thousands more over-70s, care home residents and people in the extremely clinically vulnerable category have now been inoculated.
The freezing conditions since Sunday have not thrown the vaccine programme in the south of the city off track, as the team had already completed almost all of their home visits. Nurse Judith Marsh, coordinating the roll-out for the Canterbury South Primary Care Network (PCN), said: “As our vaccine clinics are at the end of this week the weather hopefully won’t disrupt these and they will go ahead as planned.” Her team has now vaccinated all care home residents able to receive the jab.
By the end of the week 6,000 people in the south of Canterbury will have had a vaccine and those aged 65-69 will soon be invited to clinics, as long as vaccine supplies arrive as promised. Mrs Marsh added: “Our patients have been so grateful when the practice nurses arrive with their vaccine and we want to express our thanks to all our practice staff who have worked
hard to achieve this target. It has been a real collaborative team effort.”
The Gazette understands the Canterbury North PCN is also on track to hit the mid-february target.
The remarkable success of the roll-out across the district appears to have had a dramatic impact on the number of elderly residents catching Covid. Just seven over-80s tested positive for coronavirus in the week up to February 4. This is a 92% drop on the week up to January 4, when there were 97 confirmed cases among this age group. The over-80s - who had the jab earliest - are now likely to have some form of immunity to Covid, which is thought to come into effect 22 days after the first dose. Recent studies have shown that the Astrazeneca vaccine reduces transmission of the virus - which will hopefully mean fewer outbreaks in care homes. Whitstable’s vaccine team are set to have vaccinated all residents in the most vulnerable groups - 9,500 patients in total - by the end of Saturday. Dr John Ribchester, who is leading the roll-out in the town, says they have already received their delivery of vaccines for this weekend’s clinic.
He said: “We did 1,340 at our last clinic on Saturday, which is a crazy number in one day. “That drive-through has worked well. The NHS regional team came to inspect it this week to do a fact-finding mission, so hopefully they’ll recommend it to others. We’re happy to share the model because from the patient’s point of view, they’re not queuing up around the block - they’re in a nice, warm car.”
Dr Ribchester says there are 2,500 people in the 65-69 cohort in Whitstable, which he says could be seen in just two clinics. In Herne Bay, 9,650 people have received the vaccine, with 600 more booked in this week. Dr Jeremy Carter, who heads the town’s PCN, says the plan is to have all the over-50s vaccinated by the end of April. Across all areas of the district, the teams report that some eligible people have not had the vaccine because they have either refused, or had Covid at the time they were offered the jab.
In a message to those residents, Dr Carter added: “We’ve got clinics running and we’ve got vaccines that we’re ready to give, if you want it.” Figures released last Thursday by NHS England show that, as of January 31, more than 60% of people in the county had received their first jab.
Covid cases in Canterbury are on track to fall into single figures by the time schools reopen, sparking calls for other lockdown measures to be lifted. The district’s infection rate has plummeted 56.7% in the last week alone to 94.9 per 100,000 people.
The last time levels of coronavirus were this low, Kent was in the original Tier 1 of lockdown measures, with pubs open and friends allowed to mix indoors. With the success of the vaccine roll-out and cases falling across the county, Shepherd Neame boss Jonathan Neame hopes its 320 pubs and hotels can open for Easter in early April.
“It’s difficult to set a precise date at the moment but all the indications are that by the end of March all those at most risk will have been vaccinated and the programme will be well into those in their 60s, which is a remarkable achievement in itself,” he said.
Mr Neame argues that the Government’s objective to protect the NHS and save lives is being met, and now the message must be to save jobs and livelihoods.
Latest figures show the number of people with Covid in east Kent’s hospitals has fallen from a peak of 460 on January 4 to 178 on February 9.
This is the lowest amount since December 5. During the first lockdown last spring, hospitalisations peaked at 187. The number of Canterbury residents with Covid dying is also falling, with 14 deaths recorded in the last week, down from 33 the week before.
Mr Neame said: “Covid will, in a matter of weeks, cease to put pressure on the NHS and cease to be the major source of mortality that it has been. “The industry needs an exit strategy with perhaps a short period of transition with some restrictions in place but no different from last summer and short-lived.”
The Government is due to set out its lockdown exit strategy on February 22.
Mr Neame says when pubs do reopen, the rules need to be simplified.
“There shouldn’t be any debate about what’s a substantial meal, a curfew or the number of people,” he said. “We would be comfortable with a slightly later opening date if the Government said, ‘right you’re going to operate for two months as you did last summer’ and then in June, hopefully, all restrictions will
be lifted.”
At the moment, the Government has only said that schools will fully reopen on March 8 at the earliest.
But the return of outdoor socialising and sports is expected to follow soon after. The boss of Boughton golf club and the Cave Hotel, Johnathan Callister, is hopeful courses will be given the green light to open as early as March.
Mr Callister is a member of the board of UK Golf and the all-parliamentary golf group and has been lobbying for the sport. He hopes the Prime Minister gives a clear date for the return of outdoor sport, which “ideally would be later in March after schools go back”.
“In terms of transmission of the infection, golf poses very little risk because you are outdoors, socially distanced and using your own equipment,” he added. “Obviously, during winter there is less activity due to the weather anyway, but come the spring, I think there will be a lot of pent-up demand to get back on the golf course, for what is essentially healthy exercise.” Sally Moore, who runs the 123 hair and beauty salon in Herne Bay is hopeful she can reopen next month.
“We are now classified as personal
care and, like most other salons, have always operated a very safe, hygienic business environment,” she said. “We do seem to be coming to the end of this dismal situation, with cases falling and vaccinations rising, so we have to be optimistic we will be allowed to re-open soon, hopefully in March.
“For our clients, it’s not just about getting their hair done. For some, the only social and physical interaction they get is when they come to the salon.” The district’s infection rate has plunged 83% since the first week of January. If it was to continue falling at the same pace, the rate would be 16.1 by early March. This week Andrew Scottclark, director of public health in Kent, said: “All our rates are below the national average which is really great news. “But it’s a long way to go before we can think about opening anything up and getting back to business as usual. “We really wait to see the case rates as we were in summer where there were around 25 cases per 100,000.
“We need to continue as we are in lockdown - and that is of course why we have seen this reduction in rates. We need to maintain that and continue to abide by the rules.”