Push for booster jabs as 563 COVID cases recorded in Lincolnshire on Monday

There have been new 563 cases of coronavirus confirmed in Greater Lincolnshire on Monday, as more than six million booster jabs have been given in the UK and pharmaceutical giants say one vaccine is showing good results in six to 11-year-olds.

The Greater Lincolnshire case figure is almost 30% down on the 801 cases on last Monday.

Meanwhile, the latest national vaccination data shows that one-in-eight eligible adults in the UK have received a booster jab.

The latest COVID stats for Lincolnshire are:

• 563 new cases of coronavirus in Greater Lincolnshire with 428 in Lincolnshire, 64 in North East Lincolnshire and 71 in North Lincolnshire
• No further deaths were recorded in the government figures
• However, five further deaths were recorded in Greater Lincolnshire Hospitals since Friday with all of them at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust.

New NHS figures have shown that at least 6.1 million booster doses have been delivered as of October 24 – including 5.2 million in England.

As of Friday, NHS Lincolnshire said more than 60,000 covid booster vaccinations have been given to-date in Lincolnshire

People who are eligible, including all health and care staff, care home residents, people at risk, carers and people over the age of 50, will be invited by their GP or by the NHS as six months elapses after their second vaccine, and everyone is encouraged to book their appointment as soon as they receive their invitation.

The latest figures also show more than nine in 10 staff in care homes have had at least one dose and more than eight in 10 have had two as the government looks to make it compulsory for front line health workers.

| Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Meanwhile, the makers of the Moderna vaccine said they had “good results” from trials on six-11-year-olds.

Tests on 4,753 children have suggested two doses creates a strong immune response and that most side effects were mild.

Labour leader Kier Starmer has said schools should have exclusion zones to stop protesters “intimidating” children and parents.

He said there was “growing evidence” of anti-vaxxers outside schools and said there needed to be “fast-track exclusion orders”.

He said it was “important action is taken”.

It comes as Downing Street said local directors of public health should “balance the risk of COVID along with the potentially longer-term harm of any disruption to education” before bringing in tougher restrictions.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “These are powers that directors of public health have had for some time, which the government introduced, to allow them to take local action when they felt necessary.

“We would expect the directors of public health to work closely with the Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care in making any decisions in that regard.”