Fewer than one in 10 young teenagers have had a Covid-19 jab in parts of Greater Manchester

Fewer than one in 10 young people aged between 12 and 15 in some parts of Greater Manchester have had their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, data shows.

The figures, analysed by our sister title NationalWorld, show take-up among the age group across the city-region’s 10 boroughs ranges from 7.7% to 20..9%.

Our look at the numbers comes as walk-in vaccine centres in England are set to be opened to under-16s to boost uptake.

What does the data show?

The data shows that across Greater Manchester’s 10 local authorities vaccine uptake among 12-to-15-year-olds varies considerably.

The best-performing region is Trafford, where just over one in five young teenagers had received their first dose as of 17 October.

In Bolton, Bury and Oldham, meanwhile, the figure was lower than 10 per cent.

The lowest uptake rate was 7.7% in Bolton.

Across the North West 16.8% of the age group had received their first dose of a vaccine by 17 October.

For England as a whole, the rate is 15.9%.

Take-up of first vaccine doses has been low in England, with fewer than 10% of young teenagers jabbed in just over a third of local areas.

It is a completely different picture in Scotland, where by 17 October some 47.4% of 12-to-15-year-olds had had their first dose, and in some local areas over half of the age cohort had been jabbed.

What is being done?

First doses started to be rolled out to 3.2 million 12 to 15-year-olds across the country more than a month after the UK’s chief medical officers recommended extending the vaccine programme to nearly all of those in secondary school.

The original plan was for all the vaccines to be administered in schools, in the same way as the annual flu jab, with the aim of offering a dose to all those eligible by half-term.

However, the slow pace of the roll-out has caused a rethink, with rules over where the jabs will be administered set to be changed in a bid to boost numbers in England.

This will include walk-in centres being opened up to youngsters for the first time.

Headteachers’ unions are among those calling for the move, expressing concerns that high levels of the novel coronavirus in schools mean many pupils are missing out on chances to get jabbed and vaccination teams do not have enough staff for all the pupils who need to be vaccinated.