Have your say on the Covid-19 vaccine

A new survey is asking people in Wolverhampton what they think about the Covid-19 vaccination.

The survey is open to everyone over the age of 18 living or working in the city, whether or not they have had the vaccine yet.

It aims to find out about people’s experience of having the vaccine, or whether they have any hesitation about having it when it’s their turn. Information from the short survey will be used to measure whether people feel they are getting the right information before, during and after their jab, and how that may be improved.

John Denley, Wolverhampton’s Director of Public Health, said: “More than 105,000 people, around half of all the adult population, have now had their first injection.

“That means we’re around halfway, so now is a good time to look beyond the stats and see how people feel it is going. We want to know whether people feel they are getting the right information, in the right way. We also want to know how, if you’ve had your jab, how was it? Was everything explained well? Could we have done anything differently on the day you went?

“This is all useful information and will help ensure that the vaccination, and information about it, is easily accessed by everyone in our city. As the best form of protection from serious illness caused by Covid-19, it is vital that everyone has the facts they need about the vaccine – and has their jab when they have the opportunity to.”

The survey is open to anyone over the age of 18 living or working in Wolverhampton and can be completed online by going to: www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/vaccine-survey. For more information about the vaccine, including the answers to frequently asked questions, please visit www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/vaccine.

Latest vaccination figures – released today – show that 112,398 vaccinations have been given across Wolverhampton including 105,658 first doses and 6,750 second doses. Anyone who has been invited but has not yet had their first vaccination can book an appointment online at www.nhs.uk/coronavirus or by calling 119.

In addition, anyone aged 50 and over or living with an underlying health condition is invited to get their first jab without prior appointment at Aldersley Leisure Village anytime between 8am and 7pm from today until Friday 2 April. They should provide their date of birth and NHS number and, if they have it, are also asked to bring their letter from the NHS inviting them to get their Covid-19 jab.

Latest figures show there were 60.2 new cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people in Wolverhampton over the seven days to 22 March. That means 158 people in the city tested positive for the virus in that seven day period – though the true number of new cases will likely be higher.

The latest information and guidance around coronavirus is available at www.gov.uk/coronavirus and on the council’s own coronavirus pages at www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/coronavirus. Further details of the restrictions currently in place, and the answers to frequently asked questions, are available at www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/covidalert.