Invitations to get a COVID-19 vaccine are landing on the doormats of all 16 and 17-year-olds across the Isle of Wight in an effort to boost take-up in this age group.
Over 61,465 people aged 16 and 17 in the South East have already had their jab – which includes those who were previously eligible due to an underlying health condition – with more than 21,986 getting their jab in the first 2 weeks of the NHS being given the green light to offer the life-saving jab to this age group.
Letters started arriving yesterday (Thursday) inviting the teens to attend the Riverside Vaccination Centre in Newport. Many others are already receiving invitations from their GPs directly to go to alternative vaccination centres, such as Westridge in Ryde.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JVCI) updated guidance on 4th August so that all 16 and 17-year-olds could be offered 1 dose of the vaccine. Anyone in this age group can now find their nearest centre through the ‘grab a jab’ NHS online walk-in finder, with more sites becoming available every day.
Follow-up text messages are being sent out from today to ensure NHS staff are vaccinating 16 and 17-year-olds as quickly as possible ahead of their return to school.
GPs are also inviting at-risk children aged between 12 and 15 years old, who are clinically vulnerable to COVID-19 or live with adults who are at increased risk of serious illness from the virus, with 5,328 children in this age group already protected in the region.
Dr Vaughan Lewis, Medical Director for the NHS in the South East, said:
“Thanks to the dedication and hard work of NHS staff, and the teenagers who have already come forward for their COVID-19 jabs across Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, the NHS in the South East has administered more than 61,465 first doses to 16 and 17-year olds, protecting themselves, their families, and their friends from the virus.
Article continues below this advertisement “The vaccine is safe and effective with nearly nine in 10 adults in England already taking up the offer, and I would urge anyone eligible, especially those 16 and 17 year olds heading back into school or college, to get their life-saving jab”.
they’re not at any risk so wth would they.at risks are jabbed ,not that your immune tbf ,so zero need too keep pushing on youngsters! enough already
They are a reservoir of infection that allows new variants to emerge, ones that my be resistant to the vaccine. Also they can pass it onto the people who can not have the vaccinated but could die if they get it, like their pregnant mums. The vaccine is a safe way to build antibodies to the virus without having to catch it. The vaccine is not just for the person who has it, it’s for all the people around them.
You do realise that fully vaccinated people who get the virus can transmit the virus also.
The vaccine doesn’t work on new variants proved by a study by Oxford University, contrary to the panicking media and misinformation from Pfizer.
Nonsense claim saying it’s safe and effective with no data to back either claim they are all quaks pushing this unknown drug.