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Since the vaccine rollout began last year, the journey has gone relatively smoothly. The few bumps that the jab juggernaut encountered, mostly hiccups in the supply chain, were successfully overcome.
Yet there are now concerns about the final stages, with those under 30 showing significantly more reluctance to receive their first dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines than older people.
So far, 58.4% of 18-24 year olds and 58.9% of 25-29 year olds in England have received a first dose since becoming eligible on June 18 according to Public Health England, but that number is Now increasing slowly enough to alarm NHS trusts.
The latest NHS figures, from July 18, show 131,150 people aged 18-24 received a first dose that week – just a third of 416,434 two weeks earlier. Cities are seeing slower adoption, with just over half of this age group receiving a first dose, and clinical commissioning groups in Birmingham and Solihull, Leicester City, Liverpool and Manchester have had less than 50 % of use.
Many under 30 seem to have gotten the message that the virus is the deadliest for those over 50, meaning young people are unlikely to be harmed, which they say is confirmed by government actions.
The end of restrictions on ‘Freedom Day’ saw nightclubs reopen after midnight last Sunday with great fanfare, only for Boris Johnson to suggest less than 24 hours later that clubbers might need Covid passports at the time. ‘to come up. This decision, according to some government sources, was “a ruse to increase vaccination among young people.”
With dramatically increasing case rates for people in their 20s – around one in 100 people currently have a Covid infection for seven days, according to Public Health England – it’s no surprise that many who remain hesitant about of vaccines think ministers don’t. think it’s important if they get the virus.
“We are reopening the economy when young people have generally not had the vaccine and the implication is that it does not matter if they contract Covid,” said Evie Aspinall, the UK’s main summit delegate. youth of the G7 and former president of the University of Cambridge. Union of Students. “They tell us there is no sense of any real threat.”
the Observer interviewed several young people in their twenties who had not yet been vaccinated, and many spoke of anxiety about their health, vaccine skepticism and fear of social media – as well as a general lack of motivation. “When the government said that the elderly and people with underlying health conditions needed the vaccine, I totally agreed,” said Mahmud Iqbal, a 26-year-old computer engineer and barber from Tufnell Park, North London.
“But then the agenda changed. The age groups were shrinking and my family started to wonder if I was going to get the vaccine. After recovering from Covid last year, Iqbal questioned why he needed the jab and shared his fears about side effects.
Kevin, a 24-year-old painter and decorator, said he “hadn’t understood in ages” because he was lazy. “I never book GPs or anything until it’s an emergency. But I didn’t realize you could just go in, so I’m potentially going to go now. Kevin said he found it “disturbing” that he was being asked to take what he described as “an experimental vaccine”. The Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency cleared the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines after reviewing clinical trial data, and more than 20 million doses of each have been administered.
“I’m probably going to get the vaccine, however, just so I’m less likely to be able to pass it on to vulnerable people,” he said.
Georgia, 28, from the West Midlands, said fertility was her main concern. “I’ve also read a lot of adverse reactions to the vaccine, which put me off – effects on women’s reproductive systems and cycles. I want to have a baby next year and there is no published data on its long term effects on fertility. “I just don’t understand why I really need it, I’m healthy and I trust my immune system rather than the government.”
Sam Everington, a general practitioner from east London who sits on the board of the British Medical Association, said more needs to be done to counter misinformation. “It’s tough, but we have to keep going on social media with tough things that just aren’t true,” he said. “The most common thing I hear is from young people talking about infertility, and there is simply no evidence of that.”
He said ministers should “stop mixed messaging”. “The use of ‘Freedom Day’ was completely wrong because we’re going to have to live with Covid. I would much prefer to use the words “next step”. In our local hospitals, many of the patients now admitted with Covid have not been vaccinated, and they are a younger group. Younger people might think they are immune to Covid or could only contract a minor illness, but that is not true. “
An NHS spokesperson said: ‘There has been a lot of enthusiasm for the vaccine from young people, with two-thirds of 18-29 year olds having already received their first dose just weeks after becoming eligible, and thousands more continuing to come forward. Get vaccinated at convenient locations like the Walk-in Clinic at Ascot Racecourse and the Vaccine Bus at Latitude Festival this weekend.
“If you haven’t received your vaccine yet, there’s never been a more important time to come forward – it’s fast, effective and life-saving. “
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