Fulham's High Covid Rate Blamed on Low Vaccine Take Up
Area one of worst affected in London by Delta variant
Younger generation focus of local vaccination effort
The Fulham area currently has one of London’s incidence of Covid-19 and local health professionals believe a low take up of the vaccine is partly responsible.
The latest figures show that the borough of Hammersmith & Fulham has London’s highest infection rate at 369 per 100,000 population over the week to 7 July.
Most neighbourhoods in Fulham have rates significantly above even the rate for the rest of the borough with the area designated as North End by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) having an infection rate of 634.4 making it one of the hardest hit in London with 52 cases in the last week. The area also has an exceptionally low take up the vaccine with less than half adults in the area receiving their first jab and less than a third having had their second.
Although other parts of Fulham have a higher vaccination rates generally, the area is still well below the London average with 59% of adults having received their first dose compared to 78.5% in the rest of the capital and 37.1 having been double vaccinated compared to 53.9% in the whole of London.
The council says that 120,000 borough residents have received their jabs so far.
A GP working in the area told us that he believes there must be a link between low vaccine take-up and the unusually rapid spread of the Delta variant of the virus. Younger people tend to be less likely to have been vaccinated because they have only recently had unrestricted access to jabs but Fulham does not have such a high proportion of younger age groups that would explain the low take up on its own. As yet local hospitals are not reporting a significantly increased rate of hospitalisations but it is thought likely that the high local infection rates make a rise in admissions inevitable.
| Covid-19 Infections and Vaccinations | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area | Cases to 7 July | Per 100,000 | Change (%) | First dose received by 11 July | Second dose received by 11 July |
| North End (MSOA Hammersmith and Fulham 015) |
51 |
634.4 |
104.0 |
49.6 |
30.3 |
| Munster (MSOA Hammersmith and Fulham 022) |
32 |
539.8 |
146.2 |
60.2 |
36.2 |
| Fulham Aintree (MSOA Hammersmith and Fulham 019) |
32 |
506.6 |
450.0 |
56.1 |
32.9 |
Lillie Road & Greyhound Road |
25 |
418.1 |
4.2 |
55.7 |
36.0 |
Parsons Green West |
39 |
411.3 |
66.7 |
59.7 |
35.7 |
South Park |
29 |
409.6 |
141.7 |
63.2 |
42.0 |
Parsons Green East & Eel Brook Common |
32 |
396.4 |
88.2 |
62.2 |
41.9 |
| Fulham Broadway (MSOA Hammersmith and Fulham 017) |
32 |
368.2 |
6.7 |
57.2 |
33.6 |
Fulham Palace and Hurlingham Park |
23 |
367.9 |
15.0 |
66.0 |
42.8 |
Sands End & Chelsea Harbour |
29 |
312.4 |
45.0 |
57.4 |
34.9 |
| Fulham Reach (MSOA Hammersmith and Fulham 018) |
22 |
258.8 |
-8.3 |
61.2 |
41.4 |
Map of Fulham's MSOA districts
The vaccination programme is now focused on getting younger people vaccinated. For the whole of London 56% of 18-24 year olds have received their first dose with just 15.7% having had their second. This rises to 68% and 21.5% respectively for the 25-29 age group.
Up to and including 10 July 5,441,367 people in London had received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 3,733,745 had received two doses.
The total number of Covid-19 cases identified in London is 797,517 as at 10 July 2021, this compares to 4,450,372 cases for England as a whole
In the most recent week of complete data (30 June - 6 July) 21,518 cases were identified in London, a rate of 240 cases per 100,000 population. This compares with 15,066 cases and a rate of 168 for the previous week. For the same period, 169,723 cases were identified in England as a whole, a rate of 302 cases per 100,000 population. This compares with 117,237 cases and a rate of 208 for the previous week.
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May 3, 2020