Covid: Call to prioritise hard-hit Preston in vaccine rollout

Preston is in the top 20 areas with the highest case rates in England

Preston should be prioritised in the coronavirus vaccination rollout along with other areas where infections remain high, a council boss has said.

Latest figures show the city has the highest rate of infection in Lancashire - 248 per 100,000 in the week to 11 February - though cases are falling.

Council leader Matthew Brown said low income families and the ethnic minority population have been affected more.

He said more resources should be diverted accordingly.

Mr Brown's call came after Lancashire County Council said it would ask the government for "clarity" over a cut to Covid-19 vaccination supplies.

Stocks of the jab in North West England are being cut by a third to allow areas that have vaccinated fewer people to catch up.

"I have long been concerned about the disproportionate effect of Covid on our minority communities, as well as the poorest in our city," Mr Brown said.

"The two are often linked, because there tends to be more deprivation in areas where you have a higher BAME population.

"People on low incomes are two-and-a-half times more likely to be affected by Covid and certain parts of the BAME community even more so.

"We need to prioritise based around the reality that if you're well off and live in an area where it's quite spacious, the virus is not going to spread as much - whereas if you've got a lot of terraced houses, it is going to spread.

"We need to have a universal approach, but we need to put more resources into areas where people are affected the most."

Preston is in the top 20 areas with the highest case rates in England, though rates are down 29% in the latest figures, 248 per 100,000 in the week to 11 February from 347.9 the previous week.

The city was regularly registering some of the highest infection rates nationwide as the pandemic began to deteriorate last September, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

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