As of this last weekend, all adults can now book a life-saving COVID vaccine. Everyone aged 18 and over is being urged to arrange a jab if they have not yet had one as the NHS COVID Vaccination Programme, the biggest in health service history, begins the final push to protect the country.
Here in Brentwood and Ongar it is vital we continue with the ‘hands, face, space’ message and I would urge everyone, especially those who are older or are in poor health, to take up vaccinations when offered. If we keep going with these basic methods of tackling Covid-19, we should hopefully be able to remove the restrictions on our lives come 19th July.
Currently in Essex, although Covid infection rates remain low, the number of cases has quadrupled in two weeks and is projected to go higher. The majority of these cases are the Delta variant but fortunately, so far, those needing to be treated in hospital have risen only slightly and deaths remain low – though both of these indicators take longer to be evidenced.
Texts offering vaccination appointments have been going out to people aged 18-20 this week, with the NHS braced for high demand after the first group of people in their 20s to be offered vaccines booked more than one million appointments in a single day.
Text invitations appear as an alert from ‘NHSvaccine’ and include a web link to the NHS website to reserve an appointment. People who cannot go online can call the service on 119 instead to book their jab. People aged 39 and under who are eligible and pregnant women will be offered the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine in line with updated JCVI guidance.
As students return from University for the summer, please encourage all you know to book their vaccinations as soon as possible so we can defeat this virus and enjoy the summer and the freedoms we hope it will bring.
