Covid-19 has brought so much heart break and hardship across Dulwich and West Norwood, but vaccines now offer us a real chance to safely end the pandemic. It has been so uplifting to hear from many constituents sharing their positive experiences of accessing the vaccine, and of the successful start to the vaccines rollout locally.

Both Lambeth and Southwark Councils are working hard on projects to reach out to communities, including Black, Asian and minority ethnic people, who may be more hesitant about vaccines or have questions about their efficacy and safety. This work is vitally important to ensure that the vaccine roll out is fair and does not leave any group at increased risk from Covid-19 in the future.

Yesterday, I challenged the Secretary of State on the Government’s decision to exclude Lambeth and Southwark from a list of councils invited to bid for funding for outreach work to tackle vaccine hesitancy. This work is vital, and our local communities must not be left behind. You can see my question and the Secretary of State’s very poor response below >>