Covid: Fewer than 50% have first jab in two Birmingham wards

The Omicron variant is expected to hit Birmingham the hardest at the end of January

Fewer than half of people aged over 16 in two Birmingham wards have had their first Covid jab, new figures show.

In Newtown, 49.4% of over 16s have had one jab and in Holyhead it is 49.9%; which is far below the national average of 89% for those aged 12 and over.

Meanwhile, about 20 of the city's 69 wards have figures below 60%, says the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The figures come after the Midlands saw a record day for Covid vaccinations as the NHS fights the Omicron variant.

Meanwhile, only three wards, which are all in Sutton, have a higher percentage than the national average of people receiving their first jab. The highest being in Sutton Four Oaks at 90.4%.

Birmingham as a whole has one of the lowest take-up rates in England.

By 14 December, only 66% of those aged over 12 had had a first dose. Only a handful of London boroughs had a lower rate - the worst of all was Westminster with 60%.

Birmingham's director of public health Dr Justin Varney said on Wednesday he believed the city would get hit hardest by the Omicron variant in the last two weeks of January and urged people to get vaccinated.

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"Omicron is a different variant... it's way more infectious and it reproduces itself so much faster, which is why people need the booster... by boosting up your troops and getting them ready before you're infected, you stop some of that onward transmission and you get it under control," he said.

The low figures continued for second dose of vaccine and booster jabs. In Ward End, so far 11.4% of over 16s had had a booster jab, compared to 40% nationally.

Dr Varney said previously some parts of the city with low figures had young populations "which skews the overall picture", but the uptake among over-60s was "going OK".

The NHS has praised the Midlands' response to the accelerated booster campaign and said new vaccination sites were opening as part of the drive.

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