Agenda item

To receive a verbal update on the Covid-19 pandemic and the vaccination programme.

Dr Will Maimaris, Interim Director of Public Health, provided a Covid-19 update at the meeting and stated that the level of positive cases within the borough had come down significantly. It was noted that between Christmas and New Year there had been over 1,000 cases per 100,000 per week and the figures were now only in the 20s. The low number of cases was reflective across the borough and all age groups.

Dr Maimaris gave a presentation at the meeting, detailing the uptake of the 1^st dose of the vaccination within the registered eligible cohort group in Haringey as of 14 March 2021, as well as an uptake by ethnicity and deprivation.

Dr Maimaris also raised the issue of variants of concerns and stated that the South African variant had been detected in early February, which was followed by extensive testing in the Tottenham Hale area. It was noted that there had been a good level of compliance from the local population, which had found there to be around a 1% positivity rate and no evidence of ongoing transmission. The service had since been informed of another variant of concern which was similar to the UK variant, the Brazilian P1 variant. There had been concerns raised that the vaccine could not be as effective with this particular variant, however there was no specific evidence of this. Dr Maimaris advised that the strategy to address this variant found in the N10, Muswell Hill area had been to undertake detailed contract tracing and surveillance, in order to pick up any future spread and communicate this with residents. It was stressed that there was no increased risk in public health terms.

Rachel Lissauer highlighted the importance of the huge amount of activity which had contributed to the large increase in uptake of the vaccination. The vaccination programme had called on voluntary and community sector organisations, as well as utilising Councillor’s social networks, mutual aid groups and collective resources. A huge amount of work had also be undertaken by the Federation of GP practices to co-ordinate call and recall. There had also been a targeted social media campaign.

Geoffrey Ocen, Bridge Renewal Trust Chief Executive, also referred to the partnership grass roots project, Community Protect. The Community Project worked with Public Voice and Mind, alongside different statutory and grass root organisations to tackle vaccine hesitancy. He added that they had started from a low base, with a lot of mistrust, and a lot of positive work had taken place.

Cassie Williams, Assistant Director of Primary Care Quality & Development, informed the Board that 64 homeless people had been vaccinated at the Travel Lodge, Finsbury Park, last Thursday. Today the Federation of Paramedics and GPs were administering the 2^nd dose of the vaccination at care homes. 1,300 vaccinations had also been administered in the homes of those that were housebound. Cassie also highlighted the amazing volunteers at the Whittington Hospital who had helped to run and support the vaccination programme. It was also recognised that the GP practices had also worked incredibly hard in calling people in, especially given the challenges surrounding vaccine hesitancy. She was also pleased to announce that the 75.1% uptake vaccination target had just been reached.

Dr Peter Christian, NCL Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Board Member, echoed the great work done that had been done administering the vaccine programme. He also stated that it had been a useful learning exercise, especially with the extra work addressing vaccine hesitancy in the east of the borough. It was recognised that it was likely that there would be a booster vaccination programme, which could be an annual vaccination. Dr Christian added that he believed it was an opportunity to create and build on relationships with those often hard to reach communities and assist in maintaining their health in the future.

Sharon Grant stated that it had been an amazing exercise and paid credit to everyone that had contributed to the vaccine programme. The programme had broken down barriers in inequalities and it was important to detail the multi-faceted processes used and lessons learnt to build on in the future.

The Chair questioned whether there had been any knock on effect vaccination take up following the kick back on the AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe. In response, Cassie Williams stated that they had received calls and experienced some hesitancy, which had also been reported across London and nationally, however people had still been coming in for their vaccine.

The Chair also thanked everyone for their efforts in this programme.

RESOLVED

To note the update.