Festivals, large events and coronavirus, Devon's care sector urgently needs your help, 16 and 17 year olds invited for COVID-19 vaccine.

Festivals, large events and coronavirus 

As hundreds of people return to Devon following days at the Boardmasters festival, we’ve been asked what the impact festivals and large events are having on local coronavirus case rates in Devon. 

Festivals, and any such large gatherings where there are a lot of people crowded together, are environments that bring with them heightened risk of transmission. 

And when audiences to those gatherings include younger people, who are not all vaccinated, then the risk of transmission again is greater. 

The same is true though of any event or setting where there’s socialising. It’s not just festivals. 

So perhaps it should not surprise us that the highest levels of positive cases in Devon now are in the 15 to 19 year old age group, and that socialising is the main driver for that trend. 

But with weeks of summer ahead, if you’re yet to go to a festival or an event or gathering where there will be crowds, or you’ve just returned from one, here’s some guidance.

For months, we've been operating a fleet of mobile testing units that deliver lateral flow tests for people who have no symptoms of coronavirus, in towns across the county.   

It’s one of the main ways of stopping the spread of coronavirus, by identifying people likely to have the virus and asking them to self-isolate pending a full, laboratory-analysed, PCR test. 

We've now partnered-up with the local NHS to use our mobile testing vehicles to deliver vaccinations, as well as lateral flow tests, to targeted areas - where there is low vaccine uptake for example, or to target specific groups in the community. 

Steve Brown, Director of Public Health Devon, said: 

“The COVID-19 vaccines are proven to help reduce the likelihood of becoming seriously unwell, needing hospital treatment or dying of coronavirus-related illness. It also helps reduce the risk of transmission for people who have the virus. So it’s really important that people have the vaccine when it’s offered to them. 

“Take-up of the vaccine in Devon has been very good, but there are still pockets where it's below average. We and the local NHS are working together to take the vaccine to those areas to improve take-up. Our mobile testing units are the perfect vehicles, literally, to get the vaccine to harder to reach audiences.”

We've just done a pilot run in Kingsbridge this week, and have pencilled in stops in Exeter for early next month. Keep an eye on our social media channels to find out more.

16 and 17 year olds invited for COVID-19 vaccine 

Young people aged 16 and 17 years in Devon are now being invited to book their COVID-19 vaccine. 

People aged over 17 and 9 months can make an appointment online with the National Booking System or by calling 119, or they can attend one of the many walk-in clinics running every day.  

People aged 16 to 17 years and 9 months can either wait to be invited by their GP for an appointment, or attend a walk-in session. Proof of identification at walk-in vaccination centres is not necessary, but having your NHS number would be helpful. You can find your NHS number online. 

Young people will be given the Pfizer vaccine, in line with the recommendation of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. 

To encourage take-up, a national campaign has been launched across social media channels including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and TikTok, as well as on radio stations. 

COVID-19 vaccines offer good protection against new infections 

A new study has shown that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, though initially less effective, offers the same levels of protection against coronavirus after four to five months as the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Both COVID-19 vaccines still offer good protection against new infections, but effectiveness is reduced compared with the Alpha variant. 

Research published this week by the University of Oxford and the Nuffield Department of Medicine looked at the impact of the Delta variant - the dominant variant in the UK now - and vaccine effectiveness. 

It found that two doses of either vaccine provides at least the same level of protection as having had COVID-19 before through natural infection. 

People who had been vaccinated after already being infected with COVID-19 had even more protection than vaccinated people who hadn't had the virus. 

The study also found that the time between doses does not impact effectiveness in preventing new infections, but younger people have even more protection from vaccination than older people.