“Majority” of Derbyshire people hospitalised with Covid-19 are unvaccinated

The “majority” of Derbyshire people hospitalised with Covid-19 are unvaccinated and large proportions of the county’s most deprived communities have not had vaccines either.
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These key pieces of analysis come as the county and city’s healthcare services commemorate the anniversary of the first Covid-19 jabs in Derbyshire.

A year ago this week the first jabs were administered at Chesterfield Royal Hospital and Royal Derby Hospital and since then almost two million vaccinations have been given.

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On that anniversary, healthcare officials have talked about the monumental benefits that have been witnessed from the roll-out along with the difficulties and uncomfortable truths.

Sheila Wood having her jab from vaccinator Lara White at Chesterfield's Casa Hotel earlier this yearSheila Wood having her jab from vaccinator Lara White at Chesterfield's Casa Hotel earlier this year
Sheila Wood having her jab from vaccinator Lara White at Chesterfield's Casa Hotel earlier this year

Around 85 per cent of all Derbyshire residents aged 12 and above – more than 800,000 – have had one vaccine, gaining the prospect of protection from the virus.

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These were administered at huge sites such as Derby Arena, along with Chesterfield’s Casa Hotel and Winding Wheel theatre, leisure centres, churches and pharmacies, but also in people’s own homes with staff trekking to vulnerable residents through snowstorms.

Dean Wallace, Derbyshire’s public health director, says this has taken the county from an exposed position – relying purely on social distancing, face masks and hand hygiene to stem the spread and impact of the virus – to one of a strong defence.

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He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that without vaccinations “let’s be honest, we would probably be in a position right now where we would be entering a lockdown…we would be in real trouble”.

Mr Wallace also highlighted that vaccine uptake remains lowest in areas which are already more vulnerable – with more existing health conditions and jobs which cannot be carried out at home.

He said: “Unfortunately, the health inequality still exists, we had health inequality before, we had it during (the pandemic) and we are going to see it after, potentially worse than it was before.

“You can find correlation between areas where vaccine uptake is lower and people who have to go out to work more and mix more, which creates more risk, so infection rates are higher.

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“Those are also the same communities who potentially have other avoidable risk factors such as tobacco use and poor quality housing, multiple-occupancy housing, affordable warmth issues etc.”

Looking at the most recent vaccination data provided by NHS England, we can see that while around 85 per cent of eligible Derbyshire residents have had a Covid vaccine, there are substantial pockets where communities remain significantly unvaccinated.

Overall, more than 147,000 eligible residents remain totally unvaccinated across Derbyshire.

Three areas of the county, all in Derby, have seen less than 55 per cent of their 12+ population vaccinated against the virus, despite extensive and targeted efforts from health and local authority officials over the past year.

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In the New Normanton area, 51.78 per cent of residents aged 12+ have had a Covid vaccine, followed by 52.75 per cent in Rose Hill and Castleward, and 54.92 per cent in Normanton North and Pear Tree.

This contrasts to significantly higher vaccination rates in more affluent areas of the county, with 93.17 per cent of residents aged 12+ in Dronfield South having had a Covid vaccine, followed by 93.03 per cent in Hathersage, Bradwell and Tideswell and 92.96 per cent in Chesterfield borough’s Brookside and Walton.

Mr Wallace continued: “If you look at what would have been happening with these sorts of infection rates before the vaccination programme, we would have had far more people in hospital, putting loads of pressure on the NHS and social care.

“Other measures have become a helpful lift to the vaccination programme.

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“(Hospital inpatient figures) are about seven times under where we would have been with the infection rates we have got, which is massive.”

Dr Steve Lloyd, executive medical director of the Derby and Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group, confirmed the “majority” of hospital inpatients with Covid in Derbyshire are unvaccinated against the virus.

He says the vaccine has done its job in ensuring that the most adverse reactions to the virus are avoided, with vaccinated residents remaining out of hospital or the intensive care unit, with far fewer people dying from the disease too.

The CCG talks of a recent report using known hospitalisation rates showing that the vaccination programme has prevented more than 9,700 people having to be admitted to Royal Derby Hospital, and kept nearly 1,400 from ending up in its ICU.

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Dr Lloyd added: “The unvaccinated are uniquely vulnerable to Covid and people should not be complacent and believe that because they are fit or healthy or younger that it won’t affect them, and that doesn’t account for the effects of long Covid.

He said individual health circumstances do affect the likelihood of people ending up in hospital after contracting Covid-19 but said: “The data does show that for the vaccines, there are significantly reduced hospitalisations and mortality.

“The majority (of Covid hospital patients) are unvaccinated, taken overall the admissions in both the acute ward settings and in critical care tend to be the unvaccinated.

“For those people who are hesitant I would say to think very carefully. It is not just about protecting yourself personally – although that is very important, obviously, especially for those with vulnerabilities – it is about protecting your loved ones.

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“Think about protecting the community you live in and think about, actually, the majority of people actually take up the vaccine offer, that tells you that people have thought this through and for us all to come out of this pandemic it does require that vaccination to help us.

“Think about yourself and your responsibility to the community. It isn’t just about protecting the NHS, think about protecting yourself and those close to you and your communities.

Derbyshire’s largest hospital trust, the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust, does not have available information on the vaccination status of its Covid hospital patients, but says it is recorded.