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Revealed: The areas being left behind in the race to vaccinate the vulnerable

London is falling behind in the vaccine race. (Getty)
London is falling behind in the vaccine race. (Getty)

A number of London areas are falling behind in the vaccine rollout, with a quarter of over 70s yet to receive a dose in some boroughs.

NHS England has released vaccine figures by local authority for the first time, giving the most granular look at the rollout so far and outlining major regional variation.

In six London local authorities, at least one in four over 70s is yet to receive a jab.

This interactive map shows how many over 70s have been vaccinated in your area. In some instances the percentage is over 100% because population estimates do not correspond exactly to the number of people eligible for a first dose in that area.

Made with Flourish
Made with Flourish

Some 62.7% of those 70 and over in Westminster were estimated to have received their first jab by February 21 – the lowest proportion of any local authority in England.

The other five authorities estimated to be below 75% are the City of London (63.4%), Camden (67.7%), Kensington & Chelsea (69.1%), Tower Hamlets (71.8%) and Newham (73.2%).

The data suggests a substantial number of local authorities in England have vaccinated all over 70s.

Watch: Coronavirus vaccine in numbers: 18.9 million receive first dose jab

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The figures are calculated by dividing the number of vaccine doses administered by the most recent ONS population estimates.

These are estimates from 2019 so must be interpreted with some caution. Due to this, some areas report more than 100% coverage.

Some 72 of the 343 local authorities in England have vaccinated over 99% of their over 70s.

The 10 areas estimated to have vaccinated most over 70s are:

  1. Rushmoor

  2. Stroud

  3. Melton

  4. Telford and Wrekin

  5. West Devon

  6. Mid Devon

  7. Derbyshire Dales

  8. Torridge

  9. Harborough

  10. Tewkesbury

Boris Johnson said on 14 February that everyone in England in the top four priority groups, including those aged 70 and over, had been offered the vaccine.

This suggests people are being offered the vaccine but have turned it down, however this has not been confirmed.

The wider figures estimate one in five adults under the age of 70 have now been offered a vaccine with almost 19 million first doses handed out.

Read more: What are the underlying health conditions for getting a COVID vaccine sooner?

The UK delivered over 400,000 doses on Wednesday.

The estimates show some variation between the regions, ranging from 17.2% in London to 22.3% in north-west England.

Some 94% of residents of older adult care homes in England eligible to have their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine had received the jab by 21 February.

The equivalent figure for staff of older care homes is 71.5%.

But only 54.8% of eligible staff at older care homes in London are estimated to have received their first jab.

The government has committed to offering all people in the top nine priority groups by the middle of April and every adult by the end of July.

The government hopes to end social distancing and all of the hospitality by June 21 if the vaccine rollout is successful and cases and variants remain low.