Only 60% of London care home staff have had COVID vaccine as progress in England stagnates

Only about 60% of care home workers in London have been vaccinated against COVID-19, while progress across England appears to be stagnating.

Analysis by Sky News has found take up rates ranging between 59.9% in the capital, and 77.7% in Yorkshire and the North East.

The NHS England data covers staff who have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine in the last four weeks.

Most regions have seen only a 3-5% increase in care home workers getting a jab during that period.

NHS England says home and agency staff are eligible for vaccination if they have not been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the previous 28 days.

The availability of doses will not be a consideration in the take up, given that there are 467,314 care home staff in England.

There have been days when more than 500,000 doses have been administered in just 24 hours.

In addition, care home staff are in the top four priority groups for vaccination, so they will have easy access.

The head of the NHS in England has said there is a problem with vaccine hesitancy.

Sir Simon Stevens said last month there was a “pandemic of disinformation”, but “meaningful progress” was being made.

Meanwhile, more than half of all adults have now received a COVID vaccine dose in at least 74 areas of England and Scotland.

The Scilly Isles top the list with nearly three in five adults getting a single jab by 7 March, according to the latest NHS England data.

Only three local authorities in Scotland have so far reached that threshold.

Fourteen boroughs in London had the lowest proportion of adults who have received a first dose.