Covid-19: Middlesbrough doctors vaccinating the homeless

Doctors in Middlesbrough are trying to vaccinate as many homeless people as they can

Getting the Covid-19 vaccine may not seem a priority to someone who struggles to find food and shelter every day. But vaccinating the homeless is vital according to doctors in Middlesbrough who are trying new ways to meet the hard to reach.

From his tent in Middlesbrough, Matty is the first to admit he does not know much of what is going on.

"If the world ended I'd be the last person to find out just before my tent exploded," the 39-year-old tells me.

He is battling drug addiction and every day strives to find the basics other people take for granted - food and warmth.

Matty lives in a tent in Middlesbrough

Coronavirus has made itself him known to him though in the most tragic of ways.

His mother died with it at Christmas and he spent three weeks in hospital struck down with Covid-19.

"I didn't know whether I was going to live, die or come out with bad lungs," he says, adding: "In the end you just have to accept your fate, in a way I was lucky."

Matty lost his mother to Covid-19 at Christmas

He wanted to get vaccinated but struggled to access it.

Without the means to book a slot, as millions of others have, he would hear of pop-up clinics offering jabs but turn up too late in the day.

He has now had all three jabs after a chance encounter with a street warden who pointed him the right direction.

Matty says there are others like him who are "scared" and want the jab, but concedes there are many others who do not trust the authorities.

He describes the prevalence of misinformation as "a big problem".

It is a dilemma the Central Middlesbrough Primary Care Network is trying to meet head on.

Health workers are visiting homeless shelters armed with vaccination kits and bearing incentives such as food vouchers.

"We may only do one person a day but it's not about the numbers," Dr Vaishali Nanda says. "We are thinking of protecting each and every one that we can."

Dr Vaishali Nanda is part of a team vaccinating homeless people in Middlesbrough

She says: "Homelessness, by its nature, creates a very chaotic lifestyle. People don't have any stability where we can find them so we are coming to centres where they drop in for food.

"It's really important we vaccinate this really vulnerable group because they go to different parts of the city and the country.

"They risk spreading the virus or even worse risk getting the virus themselves."

She knows getting a vaccine is not a concern for many homeless people.

"When you have to fend for food, shelter, even if you think of the vaccine and know the risks that is still not your top priority," she says, adding: "What we are trying to do is create opportunities for people [to get the vaccine]."

One of those who overcame an initial reluctance to get jabbed is military veteran and father-of-three James Morte.

James Morte ended up homeless after leaving the armed forces

He spent four years in the forces and completed tours of Afghanistan which left him with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He found himself in a "black hole I couldn't get out of".

Returning to civilian life did not go well, he had "issues" which caused relationship break downs and rendered him homeless, unable to hold on to a job.

"I just couldn't keep a grip on my life. Everything was falling apart," he says.

James, who now lives in a homeless hostel for veterans, was "wary" of the vaccine at first, because of his distrust of authority, but he reasoned himself into it.

"I thought if I got Covid really bad and ended up in hospital, I would be more than happy to let the doctors and nurses put whatever into to me to make me better so why wouldn't I be happy to get the jab in the first place?" he says.

Getting homeless people jabbed is no easy feat, he says.

"Being homeless, a jab is the last thing you think of," James says, adding: "You are just trying to sort accommodation, try and have food in your belly, just trying to keep your basic needs met.

"I can see why it is hard to get homeless people to get the jab."

But vaccinating such vulnerable people is important, he says, adding: "Certain homeless shelters can be breeding grounds for [Covid-19] with loads of people coming off the street and not always maintaining social distancing."

Matty and James are now both fully jabbed.

Dr Nanda and her team press on with their quest to vaccinate more like them - one person at a time.