One in eight adults not yet vaccinated against Covid-19 in Cornwall

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has appealed to the millions of people across the UK who have not yet taken up the offer of a coronavirus vaccine to finally get the jab to help the country avoid tougher restrictions over the winter.

NHS England data shows 429,517 people aged 18 and over in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly had received a first dose of the vaccine by September 13.

But this means that 64,049 remain unvaccinated – around 13% of all adults in the area, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service.

Those aged 18-29 have the highest refusal rates in the area, with 26.6% yet to get a jab, followed by the 30-39 age bracket (23.5%).

A higher proportion of children aged 16 and 17 are unvaccinated (45.6%), but they were offered the jab much later than others.

At the other end of the scale, just 3.1% of those aged 80-89 have not received their first vaccine.

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Around 10.8% of the UK population aged 16 and above have not taken up the offer of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The vaccine is not compulsory and some have chosen not to receive it for a variety of reasons.

However, as the Prime Minister launched his plan to “live” with the disease through the coming months, his chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said getting vaccination levels up was the key to keeping case numbers down and maintaining lighter controls.

He said: “There are five million or so people who are eligible for vaccines now who haven’t been vaccinated.

“Trying to persuade those people it is the right thing to do to get vaccinated would make a significant difference.

“The immunity is really important to keep this down and allows lighter measures to be put in place to keep it under control.”

The vaccine is currently available to anyone over the age of 16, with 12 to 15-year-olds offered it soon Picture: PA Images

Mr Johnson said additional measures could include vaccine passports, as well as the return of face masks in public places and encouraging people to work from home.

However, he said the “priority” was to get everyone possible vaccinated, insisting that it was in their own interests to get protected.

The Government said that vaccine protection was holding up "very well" against the disease, but there was evidence that it was fading – particularly in those who are most vulnerable.

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Health Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed booster shots will be offered from this week to maintain protection levels as the country enters the autumn.

It will be available for the estimated 274,939 people in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly aged 50 and over on the NIMS, along with health and social care workers, 16 to 49 year-olds with underlying health conditions, adult carers, and adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals.

Meanwhile, the Government has announced plans for a “vaccine swap” with South Korea.

The UK will ship more than a million doses of its stockpile of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to South Korea in coming weeks as the country aims to fully vaccinate 70% of its population by the end of October.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the first batch will arrive in South Korea “in coming weeks”.

By the end of 2021, South Korea will return the same volume of doses to the UK.

British officials previously announced a similar vaccine swap deal with Australia.

The doses are “not immediately required” in the UK, and will not affect the vaccine rollout or the programme for booster jabs, DHSC said.

It added that the doses being swapped with South Korea are not part of the commitment to send 100 million vaccines overseas.

To date, the UK has donated 10.3 million Covid-19 vaccines to other nations – 6.2 million through the vaccine-sharing facility Covax, and the rest donated bilaterally to countries in need, DHSC said.