Over 30 organisations have applied to the Community Vaccine Fund, which aims to tackle vaccine hesitancy in communities with low vaccine uptake and support local residents to get jabbed.
Successful applicants will need to demonstrate how their planned initiatives will help increase vaccination uptake among their users or in the wider community.
Additional payments of £35 will be given to organisations for every person who receives a vaccination through their initiative.
Registered organisations can apply for funding by visiting Community Vaccine Fund – Get Wolverhampton Vaccinated! The closing date for applications is 5pm on Monday (14 February, 2022).
One local organisation who has already received the grant is the Beacon Centre for the Blind. Chief Executive Lisa Cowley said: “We’re pleased to be a part of this initiative to support the vaccination programme across Wolverhampton.
“We’ve been doing all we can to encourage everyone in the Beacon family to be fully vaccinated and we look forward to continuing this work in the weeks ahead through this project.”
Councillor Jasbir Jaspal, the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Health and Wellbeing, said: “The Community Vaccine Fund will enable us to improve engagement with our communities where Covid-19 vaccine uptake is at its lowest.
“We know that the vaccine works and that it provides you with much greater protection from serious illness were you to catch Covid-19. This funding provides us with an opportunity to ensure that all our residents can get the correct information they need regarding the vaccination, and to address any uncertainties they may have”.
Funding for The Community Vaccine Fund comes from a £185,000 top up grant from the Community Vaccine Champions Programme, which is providing a total of £22.3 million funding across areas showing the lowest rates of Covid-19 vaccination uptake.
There were 690.6 new cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people in Wolverhampton over the last 7 days. That means 1,816 people tested positive for the virus in that same period – though the true number of cases will likely be higher.
