Don't forget housebound for jabs
Loraine Sladden, former councillor and mayor of Redbridge, writes:
You may remember the issues surrounding the initial Covid vaccine for the elderly housebound residents of Redbridge earlier in the year when no provision had been made for these vulnerable people and I brought this to the attention of the country by going on national TV.
This resulted in a team going around administering the vaccine within 36 hours.
We have this problem all over again. Not all surgeries have made provision for housebound residents.
Whilst some have finished their course of the booster for its housebound residents, some GP surgeries advise me again that they are not responsible for their own patients.
Once again my father-in-law has been inundated with text messages to book for his booster at a centre away from home.
Being disabled and housebound, he is not able to leave his home. Yet again I am told by HealthBridge Direct that they are yet to go out and vaccinate the housebound residents.
Once again my father-in-law, like many others, is falling into that black hole of overlooked elderly housebound residents still waiting for their booster vaccines.
The clock is ticking, my father-in-law’s booster injection is now overdue, like most of the residents where he lives.
I fully appreciate that there are some people who have not had a Covid vaccination for medical reasons but there are so many residents of Redbridge who unfortunately by choice have not felt the need for any Covid vaccine, which is totally appalling as now these very same people are now feeling the consequences of their ignorance and falling ill and are taking up much-needed beds.
However, although you cannot force the ignorant to be vaccinated, there should be help for those who are willing and in desperate need of their booster vaccine.
Many of them are being put at risk by frequent visits of homecare workers who have not been vaccinated and could carry the virus.
I do not want to have to go on national TV again to bring attention to this again, so I am asking our council to take immediate action and ensure HealthBridge are reminded that our elderly and vulnerable residents were supposed to be vaccinated first and foremost.
Why are our housebound elderly residents being overlooked yet again?
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