Rotherham’s public health director encourages vaccine uptake as restrictions lift and hospitals under “significant pressure”

The Prime Minister said that the public “need to learn to live” with Covid-19 during a press conference on Monday (June 5), and announced that the legal mandate to wear masks indoors will end on July 19.

Limits on social gatherings will also end, and work from home guidance will be scrapped.

Rotherham Council’s Director of Public Health, Ben Anderson, says the rate of infection is doubling every seven to nine days, and although vaccines are making a “significant difference in preventing many people from becoming seriously ill” , more hospitalisations are “inevitable”.

Mr Anderson added that around 6,000 people over 50 in Rotherham are still unvaccinated, and cases have risen in older age groups in the last week.

“Overall, there are around 35,000 adults in Rotherham still to be vaccinated with one dose, which leaves a large pool of susceptible people for the virus to continue to circulate in, so we are not through this yet,” he added.

“Both the Hospital and our GPs are hard at work, but they are under significant pressure at the moment. More people catching COVID-19 will add to that pressure.

“Whilst those yet to be vaccinated tend to be younger there is still a risk of more severe disease and the concern of long-COVID so I want to encourage every adult who hasn’t already had their vaccination to get theirs as soon as possible.

“You can get the jab locally by calling Rotherham NHS Clinical Commissioning Group on 0300 3035258. We have also been working with the CCG to organise ‘walk-up’ vaccination centres across the borough where people can attend without appointments.