COVID-19 Vaccinations: Has Somerset Caught Up With Gloucestershire?

Leader of Somerset Independents
Andrew Pope

 

After all of his failures to protect us, Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants us all to forget the over 100,000 dead, the worst figures ever, families strained and businesses ruined. Who is he trying to kid?

Hapless Boris Johnson and his useless Health Secretary Matt Hancock are trying to convince us that they did all they could to protect us, and that they now have the virus under control. Johnson's Tory Government are claiming that England's vaccinations are ahead of other nations.

A couple of weeks ago, Somerset Independents discovered from figures published by ITV News that Somerset was lagging behind on Covid-19 vaccinations for people over 80 years old, with Gloucestershire way ahead of Somerset. 

We stand up for Somerset residents, so we wanted to know why Somerset was lagging behind and to hold those responsible to account. This is what we do. 

We have already challenged the County Council directly at the local "Covid-19 Engagement Board", chaired by Conservative County Council Leader David Fothergill.

We asked more questions in a formal letter from our (volunteer) officers to the County Council that was answered, but which was not very helpful.

And we had already challenged a wide range of local authorities on the Pandemic throughout 2020 - from the County Council to the PCC to the Director of Public Health and local hospitals.

So to challenge the performance on vaccinations, our Leader Andrew Pope got in touch with the Somerset County Gazette to ask them to report this. 

And they did. In Jess Chaffey's excellent report, which is at the link here, she reported: 

"only 56.6 per cent of those over 80 had been given their first vaccine dose by January 21. The total number of doses given out in Somerset by January 21 was just 45,713 – the second lowest region, compared with the rest of the UK." 

One week later, they claim that it is now up to 80%. This is a good improvement.

This is how Somerset Independents volunteers get improvements - by holding those responsible to account and putting pressure on them to increase performance. We thank the good local reporters and journalists for helping uphold democratic values.

We await the latest figures on vaccinations in Somerset, and have asked local media for an update report.

What can be the explanations for Somerset's early poor performance, relative to other parts of the South West?

Andrew Pope asked Conservative County Councillor for Shepton, John Parham:

We are grateful to Councillor Parham for his response. He told us, and we quote:

"Every dose of vaccine that we've received has been administered pretty much the day we get it, we don't carry stock, so the rate is entirely due to how quickly we get the vaccine.

As for percentages, Somerset has a higher percentage of older people than many other areas, nearly 50% of the population are over 65, therefore the same amount of vaccine will inoculate a lower percentage of the target audience."

This is not really answering the question that Andrew asked Cllr Parham, which was, in full:

"Regarding Somerset lagging behind on vaccinations and now increasing... I got in touch with the Somerset County Gazette to ask them to report this. And they did: "only 56.6 per cent of those over 80 had been given their first vaccine dose by January 21. The total number of doses given out in Somerset by January 21 was just 45,713 – the second lowest region, compared with the rest of the UK." One week later, they say it is now up to 80%. Why the slow start?"

This follows Somerset County Council claiming on BBC Radio Somerset that the vaccine would be given "quickly". (see below for an excerpt* - the full transcript is available on this website).

Yet Somerset has lagged behind the rest of the South West. It seems that quickly means more slowly than most parts of the South West.

Once again, we find a big difference between the Conservative Government and Conservative County Council's claims... and the reality experienced by residents.

Now, there is a report by Tomas Malloy of SomersetLive that the Bath and West vaccination centre is not being utilised to its maximum extent. There appear to be peaks and troughs, as other residents have reported that it was busier at other times.

And there are concerns that there is a reluctance to be vaccinated from some people.

We will continue to ask the difficult questions, because the local Conservative councillors want to pretend everything is OK, when it clearly is not. And we have already made our views clear to them in writing and "in person" (in virtual meetings during the Pandemic).

* Excerpt from BBC Radio Somerset interview with Somerset County Council Public Health Consultant, Alison Bell:

"Where would you like to see that (the vaccine) prioritised in Somerset?

Well it's not down to me sadly. It's down to a National Committee but

I think they've taken, they're experts and are prioritising it to the

elderly, people in care homes, and our health and care staff. And as you

know, that's already being rolled out in Somerset. We've got the new

vaccine that was registered yesterday. And that's really good news.

That will mean we can reach more people with the vaccine more quickly."