MORE unvaccinated people in Barnsley have coronavirus than those who are double-jabbed, according to the town’s health bosses.
Barnsley’s director of public health, Julia Burrows, confirmed ‘all known cases’ across the borough are at a higher rate in unvaccinated residents - and so has urged people to get their vaccine when asked to do so.
More than 77 per cent of adults in Barnsley have had both doses of their coronavirus vaccine - 158,650 - while almost 85 per cent have had at least one jab.
Julia said: “As more events take place over the next few weeks and schools reopen, we expect the number of positive cases to rise again.
“All known cases in Barnsley are at a higher rate in people who are unvaccinated, and those requiring more intense treatment in hospital are also unvaccinated.
“Public Health England estimates that on average the Covid-19 vaccines being used in the UK are between 91 and 97 per cent effective in preventing hospital admission.
“The more we can do to support each other to be well and to remove Covid-19 from the local, national and global population, the more quickly we can all get over this together.”
At the start of August, the infection rate for 65 to 69 year olds was 154.8 but most recent figures show rates have risen to 309.5 - a 99.9 per cent increase.
Elsewhere, the rate for 55 to 59 year olds has more than doubled from 151.2 on July 1 to 364.1 per 100,000 residents - a 140 per cent increase.
Ms Burrows told the Chronicle: “The rate in cases in over 50s most likely reflects transmission from more social mixing, in the weeks following the national easing of restrictions.
“We have seen very high levels of infection in the community over the last couple of months so it would be expected that some of that would spread into the older age groups.
“In all infections, both in the community and in those need of hospitalisation, the rate of severe illness from Covid-19 has been far lower in people who have been vaccinated.
“In our residents aged 50 and over, we have a higher uptake than the overall population, at 94.7 per cent for first dose and 92.4 per cent for second dose.
“We know that while vaccinations cannot completely prevent someone from catching a virus, those who are fully vaccinated are less likely to be severely affected in terms of how serious their symptoms are and how quickly they recover.”
