I am stood outside Ealing’s mass vaccination centre at CP House on the Uxbridge Road in Ealing excited by two events that are going to happen today, says Julian Bell, leader of Ealing Council in his latest video (above). Firstly, in just a couple of minutes, I am going inside to have my first dose of the COVID vaccine but, secondly, and this is far more important, today here we are due to give the 100,000th resident in the London Borough of Ealing the COVID vaccine.

This is a significant milestone and I want to put on record my thanks to everyone who has stepped forward to have the vaccine in the borough and also thank everyone who has helped to deliver the vaccine.

It has been a massive and heroic effort on the part of our local NHS, GPs and everyone involved, especially after the year that we have had. It truly shows the NHS and our local community in the very best of lights. By taking the vaccine everyone has made a huge contribution to protecting our borough from the virus as well as keeping themselves and their families safe. A huge thank you to everyone.

After the vaccine

I am not a great lover of having needles pushed into me but when we all think of the anxiety, disruption and, let’s be frank, serious illness and death that this virus has caused, having the vaccine is the very least we can all do.

My vaccination was quick and painless and the staff were brilliant. I had my 15 minutes to recover and felt fine.

We still have approximately 250,000 residents to go and we are working through the priority groups. If you are over 55 or clinically vulnerable you can book your vaccination now through the NHS national booking system.

You can go to the mass vaccination centre or any one of the six pharmacies that are also administering the vaccine across the borough. The two primary care network vaccination centres at Ealing Town Hall and the Dominion Centre, Southall, being run by local GPs are now focusing on delivering the second dose of the vaccine. We are also trialling this week a pop-up vaccination centre in a place of worship, at Acton mosque.

The main message remains that when you are offered the vaccine take it.

COVID-19 rates and lockdown

Our COVID case rate continues to come down and, for the week ending 7 March, it was 72.8 cases per 100,000 of population.

This is a 27% fall in cases from the week before but still remains the highest in London.

Please remember that we are still in lockdown until 29 March so stay at home except for essential purposes and if you do go out follow the hands, face, space rules and get a rapid test at one of our community testing centres.

Grants for businesses

There is only one week left for Ealing businesses to apply for one of three grants to help offset the financial burden caused by COVID-19. There’s funding of up to £25,000 available for a variety of businesses, including home-based businesses, self-employed and businesses should apply by Friday, 19 March. More details available on the council’s website.

The Census 2021

Finally, don’t forget that a week Sunday (21 March) is the Census, so look out for the instructions on how to complete it that will come in the post shortly. Thank you.