Barts Health will give its 250,000th Covid vaccination this week
Rachael Burford, Local Democracy Reporting Service
Barts NHS health trust's chief executive Alwen Williams. - Credit: Barts Health Trust
Barts Health is on track to administer its 250,000th Covid-19 vaccine by the end of the week.
The trust, which runs Mile End Hospital in Mile End, Newham University Hospital in Plaistow and the Royal London in Whitechapel, had given out 220,000 jabs across north east London as of Wednesday last week the Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the area heard.
A further 35,000 people are due to receive their first dose of the vaccine by the end of this week.
The trust is administering vaccinations at its hospitals, GP surgeries, Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, and the super hub at the ExCeL as well as at pop-up clinics, including one at the East London Mosque.
Earlier this month it also started sending staff into people’s homes to give the injection to those shielding or who have mobility problems.
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Some 85 per cent of the trust’s staff have received at least one vaccination dose.
Group chief executive of Barts Health Trust Dame Alwen Williams told the committee they were now focusing on battling vaccine hesitancy.
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Figures show lower numbers of ethnic minorities and younger staff have taken up the jab.
She said: “Where we are really focused now is on vaccine hesitancy because the breakdown in terms of BAME and young BAME staff, there is a mirror in terms of what is going on in the local population. So [we need] a real focus on a strategy to tackle vaccine hesitancy.”
Jane Milligan, from the North East London Commissioning Alliance, said more hubs had to be set up in different communities.
She added councils were working on campaigns to combat vaccine misinformation and using their call centres, staffed by bilingual employees, to contact residents about appointments.
“We do recognise there is not a one size fits all in how we ensure people have access to the vaccination,” she said.
