Vaccinators could offer COVID-19 jabs on people’s doorsteps to tackle low take-up in a city where infection rates have remained high.
Health officials in Leicester, which has been subject to the UK’s longest lockdown, have said they are looking at ‘innovative ways to reach more people.
This could include vaccines for multi-generational households in parts of the city with high infection rates and low uptake.
Other options include ‘pop-up clinics’ outside factories and at shopping centres, opening later to allow those observing Ramadan to visit after fasting and women-only vaccination centres in mosques, according to the BBC.
About 430,000 vaccines have been carried out across Leicester. Uptake of the jab varies across the city and infection rates remain high, with 108 cases per 100,000 people in the week up to 17 March.
The uptake rate among the over 60s is as high as 90% in some parts but below 70% in others.
The city’s Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said that while they would not be going door-to-door targeting whole streets, they would be visiting households where they know there has been vaccine hesitancy.
GPs have already been phoning up hesitant patients in a bid to increase uptake. The pilot scheme was launched after figures showed uptake was up to 40% lower among residents from deprived areas and BAME communities.
Dr Sulaxni Nainani, from the CCG, said ‘fantastic work’ has already been carried out to reach ‘certain pockets’ where fewer people than expected had been vaccinated.
‘We’re working with these populations groups, with faith communities, to see what would suit [them], and [creating] bespoke models for those areas, because we know that one size doesn’t fit all,’ she added.
Over 28 million people in the UK have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, which is more than half the adult population.
Boris Johnson confirmed today the nation was still on track to vaccinate over-50s by mid-April and all over 18s by the end of July, despite supply issues expected to slow down the rollout next month.
But experts have raised concern about disparities in the data, with uptake lower in more deprived areas and among ethnic minority groups.
Dr Samira Hassan, a GP in Leicester, has held a number of webinars in a bid to tackle the issue, which she said has helped develop ‘deep-rooted trust’ between health organizations and communities.
