Explained: Why Hythe was able to vaccinate residents so effectively

With the vaccination programme in Hythe being a roaring success. Let’s take a look at the reasons why this small Kentish town was able to vaccinate it’s residents so fruitfully.

Elderly residents:

Hythe is a beautiful and quiet coastal town and is a place where many come to retire, it also has one of the oldest average age groups in Kent. The average age of a resident in Hythe is 49 years, this is in comparison to the national average of 39.

The high average age has allowed Hythe to vaccinate its residents much quicker. In comparison to other areas in Kent, that are having to wait to vaccinate many of its residents when the guidelines allow them too.

The elderly has been the most effected group during this pandemic and many have lived in fear for the last 12 months. This has meant that many of them have been eager to be vaccinated. This high demand made the job for the vaccination centres in Hythe much simpler.

Brilliant surgeries:

The vaccination programme could not have been successful without the hard work of the surgeries in Hythe. They had to act efficiently in order to roll out the vaccines quickly.

Oaklands surgery was turned into the vaccination hub and teamed up with 7 other local surgeries. Using their new Accurx system, they contacted all patients that were eligible for the vaccine through an automated text message.

If people did not respond, then using the extra staff the surgeries were able to call each patient individually. This efficient system meant that no patients who were eligible for the vaccine would have missed out due to not being informed.

Vaccine supply:

Hythe has a population of just 16,000. This means that due to the large orders of vaccines from the government, the supply would not be a problem for Hythe.

Due to the Kent variant and the high number of Covid cases in the area around December time, meant that Hythe was one of the areas where a vaccine rollout was made a priority.

So, in early December, Hythe was given enough vaccines to start vaccinating the elderly straight away and in large numbers. Starting in early December, allowed Hythe to vaccinate 92% of the over 75s by the middle of March.

This put them ahead of many other areas in Kent.

Community:

Hythe has a very close-knit community as it is a such a small town.

As so many people know each other in Hythe, people were talking to each other about the vaccine. Through online resources such as the ‘Hythe residents’ group’ on Facebook, people were able to share their vaccine stories. They would encourage others to go out and get the vaccine and reassure their neighbours about the experience.

Hythe, like everywhere else in the country has struggled greatly this year. It will need the community to come together to help recover the towns financial problems when the shops open up again.

The communal effort from the Hythe residents in regards to the vaccine has helped the town greatly in its vaccination effort.

 

Check out what you are able to do in Kent once restrictions have eased!