NHS to gather vaccine ethnicity data amid fears most at risk are not being reached

Data on the number of black and Asian people receiving Covid vaccines is to be gathered by the NHS amid fears that jabs are not reaching Londoners most at risk of contracting the virus, the Standard has learned.

Health chiefs admit they have been blindsided by a lack of information on whether BAME Londoners — many of whom have been at higher risk due to factors including to public-facing jobs and poorer living conditions — are coming forward to be inoculated.

Mayor Sadiq Khan said he was concerned that the capital was not getting its fair share of jabs as the latest figures showed that the number of east Londoners receiving a first dose was the lowest of all NHS areas in England.

Mr Khan said: “The bad news is that it’s those who have suffered most from this virus, and need the vaccine most, who are the most hesitant.”

GPs in south-east London have begun logging the ethnicity of patients to assess whether there are “emerging disparities in the vaccination programme”.

Dr Jonty Heaversedge, chairman of the South-East London Clinical Commissioning Group, said such data was of “critical importance”.

He added: “We need very clear information about who has received the vaccination, where and when. There is a national digital platform that captures information about vaccination, and one of the things we were very clear about in south-east London was that we needed details about people’s ethnicity to be captured as part of that.

“That wasn’t initially included in the national platform. I do believe, after pressure from people on this governing body and our local [politicians], that that is now going to be incorporated into the national platform.”

He said that better data would also help GPs to learn whether others who tended to be missed by public health programmes, such as people with mental illness. Homeless people are being considered for higher prioritisation for the jab, it is understood.

The first figures broken down by “integrated care partnership” – NHS regions that cover multiple neighbouring boroughs – reveal that London continues to lag behind the rest of the country.

The East London Health and Care Partnership had administered 68,858 first doses by Sunday, 3.4 per cent of its population – about a third of the rate in the best performing areas of England. When second doses were included, east London’s total rose to 77,117.

North London Partners in Health and Care had given a total of 80,477 jabs, Our Healthier South East London 82,483, North West London Health and Care Partnership 91,234 and South West London Health and Care Partnership 95,583.

More up-to-date pan-London figures last night showed the capital as a whole had administered 518,427 first and second doses – but the least in England and almost 370,000 doses fewer than the Midlands.

South East London health chiefs say they were “comfortably on target” to vaccinate all 242,000 residents in the top four priority groups by February 14.

The number of jabs delivered in east London is due to hit 100,000 today. Dr Ken Aswani, head of the clinical commissioning group in Waltham Forest, said all housebound residents in the borough would receive a jab by mid-February but said it could take “until the end of February” to have reached all residents in the four priority groups.

In South-West London, the best performing area in the capital, 9,000 jabs administered in Sutton and Richmond were not included in the regional breakdowns due to the “complexity” in the national reporting system. This means its true total already exceeds 100,000.

Dr Nicola Jones, lead GP for Wandsworth, said: "There is a lot more work to do – in the coming weeks the NHS will continue to invite those eligible to attend their local GP run vaccination site or one of the large sites opening soon.”

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