Covid-19: ‘Uncertain supplies’ of vaccines in Cheshire

All adults aged 25 to 29 in England are now able to book a Covid vaccine appointment.

The leaders of Cheshire's four councils have raised "serious concern" over the supply of Covid vaccines.

They have written to Health Secretary Matt Hancock to warn that "inadequate and uncertain supplies" means that they are "now operating at only a fifth of capacity".

They say the Delta variant, which originated in India, has increased five-fold in the last two weeks.

The Department of Health have been contacted for a comment.

Leaders from Warrington Borough Council, Halton Borough Council, Cheshire West and Chester Council and Cheshire East Council said the Delta variant is "passing rapidly amongst the 15-40 year age groups".

The leaders - Russ Bowden, Mike Wharton, Louise Gittins and Sam Corcoran - have stressed the need for "urgent" action.

Analysis: Phil McCann, BBC Cheshire political reporter

Some people in parts of Cheshire have been told they'll have to go to Liverpool or Greater Manchester if they don't want to have to wait weeks longer for a jab.

There's been concern about this for some weeks and at the end of last month, the Ellesmere Port and Neston MP Justin Madders wrote to the local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) about it. That's the body responsible for coordinating the local vaccine rollout.

Clare Watson from the CCG admitted then that vaccine supply to the county was a "challenge". She also said they were facing staffing issues because so many of their volunteers were going back to their paid jobs.

But the rise of cases linked to the Delta variant in the county led to people in Northwich and Winsford being asked last week to go a testing centre for a full PCR test - even if they haven't got symptoms.

The same concern that led to that request has clearly led to this request being made to the government.

In a joint statement, they said: "The supply of vaccines into our area simply hasn't been responsive enough to the challenges on the ground.

"Areas facing the highest exposure to Covid-19 needed more urgent supplies to boost their protection, but - under NHS instruction, in order to maintain a national programme - have been denied the means to boost the speed of delivery."