Published: Friday 11 February 2022
Kensington and Chelsea is one of the lowest recorded vaccine uptake areas in the country, with only 41 per cent of 12+ residents having a booster. The Council has worked closely with the NHS and the local community to encourage uptake. One of the ways this was done last year was to call everyone over 50 who had not had a vaccine. This led to the discovery that nearly 1,000 of the 5,500 people contacted to saying they had been vaccinated abroad.
Kensington and Chelsea has the highest proportion of people with a second home abroad in the country. Up until recently there has been no way to confirm vaccinations abroad, or allow people to transfer to having a second or booster vaccine in England.
This situation has now changed, with the opening of a ‘Vaccination Validation Centre’ at the Science Museum. This means that people who were vaccinated abroad can now have their vaccination status updated on NHS systems.
Welcoming the opening of the Validation Centre at the Science Museum, Cllr Cem Kemahli, Kensington and Chelsea’s Lead Member for Public Health said:
“We’ve known since the start of the vaccination rollout that many of our residents were not being included in vaccination stats because they had been vaccinated abroad. When contacted residents who were down as not been vaccinated confirmed this in their responses. If these figures were replicated across our population, we’d see our vaccinate rate increase significantly.
“I want to encourage our residents who have been vaccinated abroad to get their vaccine validated as soon as possible. If you have had your first or second jab, you’ll be able to get your other vaccinations here. This can make it much easier to go on holiday, if you need an up-to-date vaccine passport, you’ll be able to get this through the NHS once your records are updated. Go to the national booking system and get a slot to update your records.”
You can use this service if you’re:
- aged 16 or over
- have an NHS number
- have received a COVID vaccine dose outside of England that is one of the eight MHRA-approved vaccine types; Astra Zeneca (Vaxzevria), Pfizer (Comirnaty), Johnson and Johnson (Janssen), Moderna (Spikevax), Institute of India (Covishield), Bharat Biotech (Covaxin), SinoVac (CoronaVac), Beijing Institute of Biological Products (Sinopharm BIBP)
You need to make an appointment through the National Booking Service or by calling 119.