Vaccine confidence high, despite side effects fears
Fears over potential vaccine side effects have not dampened appetites for coronavirus jabs in Sunderland, according to health chiefs.
Concerns over rare blood clots have seen guidelines for the use of the Oxford AstraZeneca treatment revised in the UK, while some countries have stopped offering it.
But despite an ‘initial wobble’ on Wearside, NHS bosses claim continued confidence has been reflected in strong uptake.
“There was some impact intheveryfirstinstance,after the first news reports broke, where [some coverage] was potentially a little bit confusing,” said Tracey Teasdale, of the Sunderland GP Alliance.
“Over about a 48 – 72-hour period there was probably someimpact,butactuallythat has balanced itself out.
“Itcouldbethatwe’veseen some impact in second doses, whereby that caused some of the initial wobble around people perhaps not coming forward for their second dose when they were initially invited.
“But [they’re] now coming forward for that second dose, now that the news [has] started to balance that, in terms of how much risk there actually is.”
Teasdale was speaking at last week’s meeting of Sunderland City Council’s (SCC) Health and Wellbeing ScrutinyCommittee,whichwasheld byvideolinkandbroadcastvia YouTube.
According to health bosses,about1%ofpeopleinWearside
offered a vaccine so far have formally declined.
More than 20million people across the world are believed to have been given a dose of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.
Ofthese,lessthan100have sincebeenlinkedtorareblood clots, of whom about 20 have died as a result.
The UK has since changed its guidelines to offer under30s an alternative vaccine, while other countries have pauseditsuseor,asinthecase of Denmark, dropped it completely.
David Chandler, chief finance officer at Sunderland Clinical Commissioning Group(CCG),said:“Myunderstanding is that among the cohorts we’re vaccinating at the moment, we’re not seeing significant change, in terms of people coming forward for firstandsecondvaccinations.
“There are still some people who were against getting vaccinated, but you’re still abletogetoneifyouwant,ifor when you change your mind – and a lot of people do.”