Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Third jabs for city’s over-50s
■ Local GPS get ready to deliver booster vaccines ■ Head blasts anti-vaxxers as pupils offered dose ■ Infection rate rising – but patient numbers fall 40%
‘If the number of cases goes up, the number of hospital patients and deaths will probably track that’
Covid patient numbers have dropped almost 40% in a week as health chiefs say they are ready and waiting to administer a winter jab blitz.
It was feared east Kent hospital beds would continue to be filled in growing proportions by those suffering with the virus after a sharp spike at the start of the month.
But latest figures show there are now just 35 people with Covid at sites across Canterbury, Ashford and Margate – falling from a six-month high of 55 just seven days before.
It comes as doctors across the district prepare to give scores of residents across the district booster jabs in a bid to ward off a feared spike in cases when temperatures dip.
Herne Bay GP Dr Jeremy Carter told the Gazette: “We have the clinics ready to go.
“There’s no doubt, though, that there’s a lot of pressure because it rises in the healthcare system in winter.
“If the number of cases goes up, the number of hospital patients and deaths will probably track that.
“Then there are the parallel concerns with influenza.
“All of those factors together are making us concerned about how things will look over the winter.”
The government has announced that the booster vaccines will be offered to about 30 million people across the country from next week, alongside annual flu inoculations.
Those eligible include anyone aged 50 and over and health and social care workers, as well as the clinically extremely vulnerable and anyone in at-risk groups.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which prepared the advice to ministers, says patients should receive their third booster dose at least six months after their second jab.
Professor Jonathan Van-tam, deputy chief medical officer for England, told a Downing Street briefing on Tuesday: “We are not past the pandemic; we are in an active phase still.
“We know this winter could be bumpy at times and we know that winter viruses such as flu are highly likely to make their returns.
“With that in mind, the aim of the game – the mantra – is to stay on top of things.”
But doctors in the Canterbury district remain unsure of when exactly they will be able to start getting the third injections into people’s arms.
Whitstable medical centre boss Dr John Ribchester added: “We really want some clarity and some deliveries.
“We’re at the starting line waiting to go.
“We can do it, but we need to know what’s going to arrive and in what order we’ll do things.”
Practices have also been hit by a national two-week delay to flu vaccine deliveries this month.
Public Health England stats show that the Covid case rate across Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay stands at 194 positive tests for every 100,000 people, having risen by just 1% in a week.
Coronavirus deaths also remain low, with 12 in the area since the beginning of July.
Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield is urging Downing Street to act quickly and decisively should restrictions be needed this winter, in order to prevent a repeat of the issues experienced last year.
“Our experience from last autumn showed what happens when the government waits too long to act to suppress the spread of the virus,” she said,
“The rollout of the vaccine booster jab will be a key tool in ensuring we don’t see the sort of hospitalisations as we did over the New Year.
“If the government takes decisive action sooner than later, then I believe there’s no reason for a repeat of last winter’s situation.
“People sacrificed their plans last Christmas in good faith that the government was doing what it could to suppress and control the spread of the virus, and some families still haven’t been able to get together since before the pandemic.”