My own rural community of West Lindsey, which most casebook readers will never has heard of has over 700 infections per 100,000 people. We are seeing across swathes of rural England huge current rates of infection. The thin red line of vaccines is keeping disaster at bay but our approach seems somehow dangerously profligate compared to the rest of the world….
Ministers are facing demands to allow younger teenagers to attend Covid vaccination centres, amid concerns that jab rates among this age group are three times lower in England than Scotland.
The vaccination rate among 12- to 15-year-olds in England currently stands at just 14.2% according to official data, compared with 44.3% in Scotland. The huge disparity has led to complaints that England has been held back by administering vaccinations solely through schools.
It comes amid rising case numbers in the UK ahead of winter, which are causing concern among scientists over what this will mean for hospital admissions and excess deaths. New daily cases have risen to their highest levels since July, at more than 40,000.
Britain’s caseload also seems high by international standards. The UK has 589.68 new cases per million, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. That is more than twice the 255.24 cases per million recorded by the US and more than five times the 104.2 cases recorded by Germany. The increasing case numbers have led to some calls for the government to re-emphasise the need for basic measures such as mask wearing at higher-risk venues.