MORE than 5,000 children in Bolton have been vaccinated, say Bolton Health bosses after Government figures said the uptake among 12-to-15-year-olds in the borough was low.

In fact The Bolton News understands the figure is one of the best in Greater Manchester, but the system has not been updated to reflect this.

Karen Meadowcroft, Chief Nurse at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, which is responsible for delivering the 12-15 vaccination programme in Bolton said:

“Our teams have vaccinated almost 5,000 children and young people in just two weeks.

“The teams carrying out the vaccinations in secondary schools have worked extremely hard to roll out this programme following the national guidance.

“We’re working closely with our partners Dr Helen Wall, Senior Responsible Officer for the COVID-19 vaccination programme in Bolton, and the Public Health department at Bolton Council, to ensure that all 12-15 year olds and their parents/carers have all the information they need to make an informed choice about receiving the vaccine, and receive it in a timely manner should they wish to do so.”

According to the Government dashboard only 6.6 per cent of eligible children have had the first dose, with only 15 other local authorities seeing a lower take-up rate. But health bosses say the figure is far higher than that.

Headteachers’ unions are calling for children to be allowed to use walk-in vaccination centres in England after overall figures revealed the scale of the low take-up of the Covid-19 jab among young teenagers.

School leaders’ unions are concerned that 12-to-15-year-olds in England are missing out on getting the Covid-19 vaccination in school due to a high level of cases amongst the age group, as well as logistical problems with vaccination teams having insufficient staff to deal with students needing jabs.

Three million pupils aged between 12 and 15 across the UK are eligible to receive a first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine as part of a rollout that began a month ago.In England, jabs are being carried out in schools by nurses and immunisation teams.

But reports suggest that children under 16 in England could soon be offered jabs at vaccine centres due to delays with the vaccine rollout.

James Bowen, director of policy for school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “Allowing 12-15 year olds to attend walk-in vaccination centres would be a sensible decision.”

Greater Manchester 12-15 vaccine take-up according to Government dashboard

Trafford 20.7%

Stockport 17.6%

Tameside 16.4%

Salford 13.6%

Rochdale 13.1%

Wigan 12.9%

Manchester 8.9%

Oldham 8.7%

Bury 7.7%

Bolton 6.6%