AS a type one diabetic I had my first dose of the COVID vaccination at the weekend.

Having studied and qualified in genetics at University I feel immensely proud that the scientific community in the UK and around the world has come together to create a range of vaccines to stop the COVID pandemic.

Although the government has messed up almost everything it could have possibly done so, the only positive is that the vaccine roll out appears to be going along reasonably quickly.

Despite the fact that many millions have been vaccinated, there are many groups who are choosing not to be vaccinated for a range of reasons including religion or trust in the government.

In Ealing the recent rate of vaccination of care workers was much lower than the average uptake and given that care workers can often be present caring for numerous patients or clients it means that there is a great risk that COVID could spread locally to many vulnerable groups yet to be vaccinated.

Overall, the 15% of people who are choosing not to be vaccinated appear to skew heavily to Afro-Caribbean and black communities, which were the groups that often suffered most badly in the first wave of COVID deaths.

I was vaccinated at Ealing Town Hall and people are sanitised with hand wash before you go in and when you come out.

People all wear masks and it is very quick.

I was in and out in less than five minutes, quick and easy.

I give great thanks to the NHS and the kind volunteers who made the process so smooth.

The vaccine is safe and has been approved by the authorities and regulators.

Recent statistics seems to show that the rate of transmission is much lower between people who have been vaccinated so every one of us hopefully should be vaccinated to avoid both ourselves getting ill but also our friends, flatmates, or families as well, or even worse, dying from COVID.

If you declined to get your vaccine the first time, people are being told that they will be offered it again.

If you know someone who is wary of vaccine, please reassure them so that they can get vaccinated to help themselves and us all.

If you get a text from your GP please book an appointment to get your vaccination.