Last week, the NHS published local data on the vaccination rollout for the first time. It was good to see that, by 21 February, 35,155 Elmbridge residents had been protected against Coronavirus.
We can also see these figures broken down by age groups – 7,269 over-80s have been vaccinated in Elmbridge, as well as 10,526 people aged between 70 and 80, and 17,360 under-70s. The national target to offer everyone in the four top priority groups (including the over-70s) a vaccination by 15 February was met, so the high number of under-70s vaccinated shows just how well the rollout is going locally.
This encouraging progress is a testament to the hard work of the NHS staff and volunteers at our local vaccination centres. I recently visited the centres in Walton and Thames Ditton, and was very impressed by the smooth operations at both sites. Of course Elmbridge residents may have been asked to attend one of the other vaccination sites across Surrey, so we owe our thanks to the county-wide efforts of the Surrey Heartlands CCG.
It is thanks to this progress on vaccines – and residents’ efforts in keeping to the tough restrictions – that the Prime Minister was recently able to set out a roadmap out of lockdown. For now, I encourage residents to keep following the rules, and to get the vaccine when you’re invited.