Covid: Blackburn council clarifies position on over-18s vaccines

People aged 38 and 39 are now being invited to receive vaccines across most of the UK

A council in Lancashire has clarified its statement that Covid vaccines would be offered to all over-18s due to concerns about the Indian variant.

Blackburn with Darwen Council said jabs would be offered only to over-18s with health conditions, in line with government guidance.

A spokeswoman had earlier said all over-18s could book vaccines.

The council has now said additional clinics will be opening to help offer more jabs to those eligible.

It said the push would begin next week and go hand-in-hand with a programme of surge testing in the area.

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• The two towns hit hardest in the pandemic

A spokesman said: "Contrary to earlier social media and news reporting, vaccines at the clinics will not be widely available to over-18s.

"They will be available within current government guidance, which is currently anyone over the age of 38, anyone over 18 with an underlying health condition or who lives with someone who has lowered immunity, health and social care staff and carers."

The council had earlier provided a statement saying: "The council and NHS partners have secured extra doses of the Covid-19 vaccine that will be made available to anyone in Blackburn with Darwen aged over 18 from next week."

In a joint statement, council leader Mohammed Khan, chief executive Denise Park, and director of public health Professor Dominic Harrison said: "While the Prime Minister announced this week that we can progress to step three of the government's road map as planned next week, we need everyone in Blackburn with Darwen to be extra vigilant and proceed with caution.

"The variant first identified in India is more transmissible than other variants, which means it is easily passed on from one person to another."

Blackburn has been one of the hardest-hit areas of England by Covid

The development comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not rule out a return to local lockdowns in future.

Speaking during a visit to a primary school earlier, Mr Johnson said: "There are a range of things that we could do. We want to make sure we grip it.

"Obviously there's surge testing, surge tracing, making sure that whenever you have a case, you check everybody who's been in contact with that person.

"But if we do have to do other things, then of course, I think the public would want us at this stage to rule nothing out."

Analysis

By Rob England, BBC England Data Unit

The recent rise in cases in Blackburn has been confirmed to be linked "in part" to the new Indian variant.

It joins Bolton and Sefton in the North West as well as parts of London in seeing a spread of the newest variant of concern.

In the latest weekly figures, the town recorded the third highest infection rate in England, with an 89% jump in cases compared to the previous week.

As with other areas, mass testing is due to be deployed in hotspots, and there are early indications health teams will be stepping up the vaccination rollout.

However, it's worth noting that although the new variant is thought to spread as easily as previous ones, there's no evidence to suggest it causes more serious illness.

Hospital admissions do not seem to have increased in line with cases, and the area hasn't seen a death with coronavirus for the past six weeks.