With Coronavirus vaccines in Leek and the rest of the country now having been offered to all over 18s, as well as moving on to 16 and 17 year olds, the majority of people in the Moorlands have now been vaccinated.

However, not everyone has chosen to get the vaccine, and with the Government due to implement its controversial vaccine passport plans later this month, there are still thousands of adults in the local area who are unvaccinated.

So how many people in the Moorlands have still not been vaccinated against Covid?

The latest NHS figures show that almost 91% of adults in the Staffordshire Moorlands have had at least one jab, which is over 74,000 people. Almost 85% of adults have also had their second vaccine.

But even though more than nine out of ten adults in the district have taken up the offer of the vaccine, this still leaves almost 9% of Moorlands adults without being vaccinated at least once, which equates to over 7,000 people.

These figures include all over 18s in the Moorlands but not 16 and 17 year olds, as they have not all yet had the chance to receive a jab after the vaccination programme was recently extended to include them.

The good news is that the Moorlands' first vaccination rate of almost 91% is higher than the UK average of 88.5%, meaning the district is performing well when it comes to vaccine take-up.

And our rate here in the Moorlands is considerably higher than in Stoke-on-Trent, which has had only an 80% take-up of first jabs.

The Government is still due to push forward with its vaccine passport plans this month, which will mean those who have not had both vaccines won't be able to get into large events and certain venues such as nightclubs.

The plan has sparked backlash from Conservative backbenchers who have raised privacy and freedom concerns.

Meanwhile, a study to be published in the Lancet journal EClinicalMedicine this month found that vaccine passport plans, although partially designed to increase the take-up of the vaccine, particularly among the young, actually result in an increase in vaccine hesitancy.