Covid-19: People taking booster in Reading below target

The number of people receiving vaccines in Reading is below the target of 75% uptake

The number of people receiving a third Covid vaccine is below target, a council has heard.

In Reading, 53.3% of people aged 12+ have had a third vaccine dose despite a target of 75% uptake.

This comes as Covid infections in the UK have risen by about 25% from previous figures, the latest weekly data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has suggested.

Public Health for Berkshire is monitoring on a monthly basis.

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Reading Borough Council heard during a meeting on Friday that 118 people tested positive for Covid in the last week of September, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

It also heard that the area with the least boosters was in Church ward, where 3,394 people have not had a third booster, followed by an area in Whitley (2,042) and an area in Katesgrove (1,905).

Two people in Reading died after a Covid diagnosis in the seven days leading to Friday, September 2.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has confirmed it will roll out Covid boosters and flu vaccinations this autumn to help increase protection against respiratory viruses ahead of winter.

A further Covid dose is available to:

• adults aged 50 and over

• anyone with health conditions which put them at higher risk

• care home staff

• frontline health and social care workers

• carers aged 16 to 49

• household contacts of people with weakened immune system