NINE IN TEN TEENAGERS WANT THE JAB
Hesitancy falls in young as all 16 and 17-year-olds are invited for their first dose
NINE in ten teenagers now want to get vaccinated against Covid as hesitancy about the jab tumbles among the young.
A survey by the Office for National Statistics found reluctance to get an injection had almost halved in older teens.
Among those aged 16 and 17 – all 1.4 million of whom are now eligible for their first dose – 89 per cent said they would now get inoculated.
The survey looked at attitudes in the four weeks to July 18, the day before most coronavirus restrictions were lifted in England.
It found that among 18 to 21year-olds, hesitancy fell from nine per cent to five per cent, while it also dropped in the 16-17 group, from 14 per cent to 11 per cent.
The first otherwise healthy 16 and 17-year-olds in the UK received their Covid jabs on Friday, after a Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommendation to extend the programme.
Until then, under-18s had been eligible only if they had certain health conditions, were living with someone with an immune system condition or were approaching their 18th birthday.
The findings will boost hopes that uptake of the vaccine will be high in teenagers. But worryingly, the proportion of black British adults who say they do not want to be vaccinated has increased.
The figure for vaccine hesitancy is at 21 per cent among black or black British adults, compared with 18 per cent in the previous survey conducted in the four weeks to June 20.
The rate of hesitancy is just four per cent among white adults. In the East Midlands, more than a third of black adults reported vaccine hesitancy. The ONS – which
‘Improved attitudes to uptake’
surveyed 15,433 adults aged 16 and above in England, Scotland and Wales – classified people as vaccine hesitant if they said they had chosen not to be vaccinated, or didn’t know if they would take up the jab.
Overall, 96 per cent of adults said they had a positive attitude towards the vaccine, while four per cent reported hesitancy. The findings show there has been progress in improving attitudes to the vaccine in communities with low uptake. For example in inner London, hesitancy has dropped from 13 per cent to seven per cent.
Nearly one in three 18 to 29-yearolds are yet to take up the offer of a first dose. About 2.6 million 18 to 29-year-olds remain unvaccinated, with young men most likely to ignore the call, data from NHS England shows.
Among those aged 18 to 21, hesitancy decreased to five per cent from nine per cent, while it dropped slightly for 22 to 25-year-olds from ten per cent to nine per cent.
Fewer than 20,000 under-30s a day are currently receiving their first jab, despite an enormous drive by ministers to boost uptake in this age group. Ministers have
launched incentives to target this age group, including deals with Uber and Deliveroo.
Nightclubs, including Heaven in London, are also being used as pop-up vaccination clinics.
Last month Boris Johnson announced that proof of double vaccination would be a ‘condition of entry’ to nightclubs from September.
◼DOCTORS on the Covid frontline have faced a torrent of abuse from patients, according to the British Medical Association. Its survey found 37 per cent had been verbally abused, while one in five GPs had been threatened as the NHS became stretched during the pandemic.
Dr Richard Vautrey, BMA GP committee chair, said: ‘The last year and a half has been an incredibly challenging time for both doctors and patients. However, abuse, violence and threats are unacceptable and should never be tolerated.’