NHS working to offer Covid vaccinations to all over-50s by May
MORE THAN 50,000 NOTTS RESIDENTS HAD THE JAB IN ONE WEEK
NHS bosses in Nottinghamshire are hopeful that every resident aged 50 and over will have been offered their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by May, to meet the Government’s target.
More than 50,000 first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been given out to Nottinghamshire residents in a week, new NHS data shows.
A total of 177,864 people in both the city and county have had their first jab as of February 7 as part of the largest vaccine rollout in NHS history.
This is up from a total of 127,298 vaccines recorded the week before – an increase of 50,566.
It works out at around 7,200 jabs a day given out across the city and county’s vaccine sites.
The top nine priority vaccination groups – which are set by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) – also includes people aged 16 to 64 with underlying health conditions.
Currently, Nottinghamshire is giving out vaccines to cohort five – all those 65 years of age and over – and above.
And the NHS locally has said it is hopeful it can work towards the national target set by the Government.
Speaking during a weekly public health briefing, Dr Andy Haynes, executive lead for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care System, said: “Our capacity has ramped up significantly and was always planned to do so.
“We’re using all of the capacity that we have got available and all of the vaccine that we have available.
“We’ll continue to get the programme rolled out as rapidly as we can based around the cohorts being opened up and the vaccine supply.
“We’ve progressed into cohort five now.
“Cohort six is the higher risk patients under 65 – that’s a large group of people here.”
Dr Haynes added: “We will also have the second doses for the people who have received their first beginning to come in, so managing that is very complex. “We are doing that and we’re aware of where we are in terms of the next few weeks and we’ll continue to open up the cohorts then in line with national guidance. “Clearly there’s been discussions of trying to get this completed in terms of first doses by late spring and we’ll press on with that. “We’re very aware that this is likely to be a longer-term programme of getting that blend right between the larger centres which I think will be easier to access for the younger cohorts as we bring them on – but we are working to the national targets being discussed.”
These are the groups that hoped to have all been offered a first vaccine by May:
■ Residents in a care home for older adults and their carers
■ All those 80 years of age and over; frontline health and social care workers
■ All those 75 years of age and over
■ All those 70 years of age and over; clinically extremely vulnerable individuals
■ All those 65 years of age and over
■ All individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality
■ All those 60 years of age and over
■ All those 55 years of age and over
■ All those 50 years of age and over
Nottinghamshire residents aged 65 and over are now being urged to book their Covid-19 vaccine as the rollout takes its next steps.
Text messages and letters inviting those over 65 to have their vaccine will begin to go out and anyone eligible can also book via the local booking site or by calling 0115 883 4640.
We’re using all of the capacity that we have got available and all of the vaccine we have available Dr Andy Haynes
NOTTINGHAM Forest legend Viv Anderson says the racist abuse towards players on social media today is worse than anything he faced from the terraces.
The former defender, who was England’s first black player and won two European Cup winners’ medals with Forest, said it was “shameful” stars were encountering more racism than ever.
He accused the Government and social media giants of failing a generation of players by doing nothing to stop the abuse.
Viv, who was capped 30 times for his country and also played for Arsenal and Manchester United, called on the authorities to hit online trolls in the pocket with “massive fines”.
And he said social media companies should also be punished for giving racists a platform to spout their vile abuse.
The Three Lions legend praised stars including Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling for highlighting the problem.
Viv, 64, described the abuse as “disgraceful”.
He played in the 1970s and 1980s, when racism was rife on the terraces of English football stadiums.
Fans made cruel monkey noises at him, while other players including Liverpool’s John Barnes were pelted with bananas.
“I went to Newcastle when I was playing for Nottingham Forest. It was probably my third game, in a League Cup tie,” he told the Mirror.
“The abuse I got, just walking out on the pitch before the game, was so severe I had to go back into the dressing room. I told the manager, Brian Clough, that I don’t think I can play tonight.
He said straight away, ‘Don’t even go down that route, you are playing.’
“So I just had to get on with it because the manager said ‘you’re playing.’ There was no escape.”
Nottingham-born Viv says today’s black players have it even harder than he did because the racist abuse is constant on social media.
“I think the fight against racism has gone backwards since my day,
definitely, because social media wasn’t around then,” he said. “At least in my day you could look at the person abusing you in the face and say, ‘I can see your face.’
“Now they are just hiding under different accounts, on different social media platforms. I think it’s a lot more difficult for players now.
I don’t want to know what some racist idiot sitting in his front room thinks about me
Viv Anderson
FOREST LEGEND CALLS FOR ACTION AGAINST TROLLS
“During my day the abuse in footballers was confined to the stadium, and once I left the pitch it finished.
“For today’s players there is no getting away from it.
“The stuff on social media has been going on for years and years and they keep putting it off and putting it off. Nothing ever gets done.
“The abuse is getting worse. Look how many players have been racially abused over the past two weeks. It’s definitely getting worse.
“Clearly something has to change. I think all the authorities should be lobby- ing the Government.
“Why should I go on my phone and be racially abused by somebody sitting in their room, who doesn’t know me?
“Back in the early days of social media I was abused, but we didn’t really have a voice back then. Nobody would have listened.
“But now people like Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling have a voice and they are standing up to it, which is great. “Now it’s come to a point where players are saying, ‘enough is enough.’ “Death threats, stuff like that, is absolutely ridiculous. It’s disgraceful.
“This weekend we have a Premier League referee who can’t ref a game because of death threats to his family. What’s the world come to? “Some of these incidents on social media recently, the monkey emojis and stuff like that, is nothing to do with their playing. “It’s about the fact that they don’t like them because of the colour of their skin. “These people are able to hide and dish out this abuse from behind their computer screen. They wouldn’t do it in a stadium. “They have got to be accountable. “When they sign up to their accounts they should be made to use their real names, showing some form of identification.
“It should far more stringent than it currently is.
“If a troll knows he faces a £50,000 fine if he’s caught posting racist abuse on social media then they will stop very quickly.
“If the Government can come in and say anybody racially abusing on social media will receive severe fines, it will stop.
“I’m not talking little fines. It needs to be big fines that really hurt these people.”
Viv, who now lives in Cheshire, said companies such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram should also face massive fines for not stopping the abuse.
“The responsibility has to be on them. If you make the punishment severe enough they will get people in to stop it very quickly,” he said.
“The social media companies are as much to blame as the racists posting the abuse. It’s down to them. They need to verify all accounts, get the person’s details.
“If the companies are constantly having to pay out big fines for abuse on their platforms, they will soon bring people into line very quickly.
“The alternative is to not go on social media, don’t look at the posts. But to have to remove yourself from social media because of racists would be a sad state of affairs. It would not be fair.
“For me, if I was a young black player starting out as a professional now, I just wouldn’t go on social media.
“That would be my way of dealing with it. I don’t want to know what some racist idiot sitting in his front room thinks about me.
“But I know the world has changed. I have a 14-year-old, an 11-year-old and a 23-year-old.
“If I said to them that they had to come off social media I’d be locked up in a room somewhere.
“Why should you be abused in any form – whether it’s about your race or being fat or whatever – on social media? It’s just wrong.
“We need to know exactly who is writing the abuse, then they can be picked out and fined.
“And then the social media companies are fined for letting it happen.”