Manchester teens to be offered Covid vaccine as health authorities face ‘race against time’ in fight with Indian strain

MANCHESTER teens are set to be offered the Covid vaccine as health authorities face a “race against time” in the fight with the Indian strain.

People as young as 16-years-old living in vulnerable households will be offered the coronavirus jab as Manchester launches a “preventive vaccine plan.”

Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest updates

LNP

Teens as young as 16 will now be given the Covid jab in areas in Manchester[/caption]

David Regan, Manchester’s director of public health, said the city was in a “race against time” to tackle the new variant – which is more transmissible than other strains.

Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will be offered to people aged 18 and over in target wards, while 17 and 16 year-olds from eligible households will also get the jab call.

The wards involved in the accelerated vaccine rollout are Ardwick, Crumpsall, Cheetham, Moss Side, Levenshulme, Longsight, Rusholme, and Whalley Range.

These areas have populations of more than half black, Asian, and minority-ethnic residents, with many people living in multi-generational households.

Across the rest of England, people aged 32 and 33 can now book their vaccine appointment as the age limit dropped once more.

This comes as a new ‘triple mutant’ Covid strain has been discovered in Yorkshire as scientists investigate a “strange combination” of genes.

A total of 49 cases of the new strain have been identified – but there is no evidence to show that it is more transmissible or resistant to vaccines, health chiefs said.

VACCINE ROLLOUT

The “variant under investigation” which has been identified in Yorkshire and the Humber is now being probed by Public Health England, as the country’s R rate crept up to 0.9.

However, residents in Yorkshire have been urged not to be alarmed at the spread of the latest strain, called VUI-21MAY-01 or AV.1.

Greg Fell, director of public health in Sheffield, said his team had been monitoring the “triple mutant” variant and found no reason to think it is more transmissible or resistant to vaccines. 

Extra testing and tracing is being carried out while the “strange combination of mutations” continues to be probed.

Downing Street said yesterday that the variant is being monitored and stressed “we won’t hesitate to put in measures that we think are necessary to try and tackle the transmission of any variants”.

This comes as the West of England saw cases of the Indian variant quadruple in one week as Covid cases rise in 97 areas.

NEXT UP!

But Prime Minister Boris Johnson this week said data suggests that the vaccines being rolled out do work against the Indian variant.

It was announced yesterday that the official R rate crept up to 1.1 in some parts of England and could be 1.2 in the North West amid spread of the Indian coronavirus variant.

Figures also show “potential early signs of increase” across the country’s case numbers.

Experts have said it was always expected there would be a slight increase in the R rate once people were given more freedoms to socialise.

But cases have remained at a very low level in good signs the vaccines are working to suppress transmission.

However, there are concerns the Indian variant could scupper England’s chances at coming out of all Covid restrictions in June.

Already almost 3,500 cases have been detected across the UK, Public Health England said yesterday, a rise on the 2,111 figure a week ago.

Experts are split on whether it will derail lockdown lifting, with some believing outbreaks will remain localised in hotspots, such as in the North West.

But any final decisions won’t be made by ministers until the second week of June, when they know more about the fast-spreading strain.