Grants for Central Bedfordshire groups to boost Covid vaccine take up

The council is reaching out to community, faith and volunteer groups to apply

Author: Lettie BuxtonPublished 18th Sep 2021

Grants of up to £2,000 have been made available to groups across Central Bedfordshire, in a bid to increase vaccine take up.

The council is reaching out to community, faith and volunteer groups to apply for money from the COVID-19 Increasing Vaccinations Fund, which aims to support activities that directly relate to overcoming vaccine hesitancy.

Grant money can be put towards activities such as costs relating to community meetings, translation services and transport to vaccination services.

The scheme will be running until 13 December.

Councillor Tracey Stock, Executive Member with responsibilities for Communities said:

"We know that faith and community groups play a significant role, particularly with some of our more hard-to-reach residents.

"This grant will help them to tackle vaccine hesitancy more effectively; whether it’s breaking down language barriers by paying for translation services; providing transport to vaccination centres or by meeting the costs of a community meeting.

"It is hoped, that by being more able to provide accurate information about COVID-19 and the vaccination, it will encourage take-up of the vaccine and tackle the disproportionate impact the pandemic has had on certain groups."

There are details on how to apply for the scheme on the Central Bedfordshire Council website.

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.