Big push planned as vaccine take-up lags among young people

Friday 30 July 2021

New data has revealed the challenge facing the Government when it comes to boosting covid vaccinations among younger islanders – with new initiatives planned to tackle it in the coming weeks.

Released by Government yesterday, the below graph shows how the rate of take-up has been slowest in the youngest age category of 18 to 29-year-olds, who were first offered the vaccine in early June.

Whilst uptake in the 18-29 category saw a spike last month which led to it passing over the 60% mark, the line has now started flattening out.

Meanwhile, other age groups saw take-up soar above 75% within one to two months of being offered the covid jab.

CLICK TO ENLARGE: The vaccination rate of different age groups.

As of two weeks ago, two in five young adults (40%) still hadn’t had their first dose of the vaccine.

According to statistics released yesterday, this gap had only closed by 2% by Sunday 25 July, coming down to 38%.

In a bid to boost numbers this week, walk-in appointments have been offered between 17:00 and 18:00, and will be offering walk-ins over the weekend at 08:30 and 15:30 on Saturday and Sunday.

"…I understand that young people lead busy lives and cannot always commit to an allocated date and time, so I hope by making the extra effort to open the vaccine centre up in this way, it will make it easier for young islanders to go and get their first dose,” Becky Sherrington, Head of the Vaccination Programme, explained.

As of yesterday, more than 100 islanders had taken the walk-in opportunity this week, but it is unclear which age groups they represented.

Express understands the Government is also due to announce another initiative offering unscheduled vaccinations in the coming weeks to help continue to boost take-up among the younger generations.

Currently, three quarters of all eligible adults have had both jabs, and the vaccination team says it is on track for 80% of the adult population to be covered by mid-August.