Covid vaccines will make life better by spring, confident Peterborough health chief declares

Dr Liz Robin said she was “confident” that the sacrifices being made during the new national lockdown will be worth it as the city’s most vulnerable residents continue to get a jab protecting them from Covid-19.

Speaking to the Peterborough Telegraph, Dr Robin said keeping to the Government message of staying at home will save lives but that it will be worth the effort as she confidently predicted a return to some normality in just a couple of months.

Moreover, the medical director for Peterborough and Cambridgeshire Dr Fiona Head told the PT that the roll-out of vaccines across the country is going well, with more vaccination sites to come on stream in the near future.

This will include a venue in Peterborough which will allow for mass vaccinations to take place, although a final decision on where this will be will be made nationally.

Dr Robin said: “It’s really tough for all of us to go back into lockdown after we’ve done so much successfully to hold back the virus in Peterborough. But the reality is we have got a more infectious new variant, and nationally one in 50 people now test positive for Covid-19.

“We now have more hospital patients in Peterborough with Covid than we did in the first lockdown, so it’s absolutely essential we pull out the stops one last time and stick to the ‘stay at home’ lockdown, because this undoubtedly will save lives. I’m absolutely clear on that.

“The sacrifices that we need to make will be time limited. I know the vaccine will work to protect vulnerable people.

“That means as more and more vulnerable people are vaccinated the situation will improve. I’m confident, professionally, that the situation and our lives will have improved by spring.

“We are on the tough, last bit of the marathon where we’re very tired, but there is now a finishing line that we can see ahead of us, because I am confident that vaccines work and that we will be in a better position by the spring.

“I’m very confident in that, and I wouldn’t say that if I wasn’t confident.”

With Covid-related deaths and hospital admissions rising, Dr Robin warned that: “It’s now everywhere and everybody needs to think about it.”

This includes new variants which are more infectious, although how prevalent they are in Peterborough is currently unknown, as only some samples from the city have gone to national testing labs.

Dr Robin said: “We know that the very sharp rises we’ve seen in London and south Essex are strongly related to the new variant.

“We know we’ve got some of the new variant but we don’t have really detailed information on how much we’ve got.

“If you look at the geography, we’re a bit further away from London, south Essex, Kent and those areas which have had a really high proportion of the new variant, so we may not have seen its full effect yet.

“That’s why it’s so important everybody locks down now and sticks to the rules.”

A new Covid-19 testing site opened at Peterborough Lions Rugby Club in Bretton Park on Christmas Day.

Asked if it has been used by residents, Dr Robin replied: “We’re really pleased with the take-up of testing at the new site in Bretton. It’s been taken up well.

“More generally, it’s very important that anyone that has one or more of the Covid symptoms self-isolates along with their family and goes to get a test.

“The testing programme is still important.”