North west London is in the bottom five areas nationally for people having first and second Covid vaccinations.

NHS data shows that North West London Health and Care Partnership is scoring very low behind North London Partners in Health and Care.

Only 59.9 per cent of people aged over 16 have had the first jab compared to 75.5pc in Somerset which has the highest number

Only 30.8pc have had both doses compared to Somerset's 48.9pc.

In north London the figures are 53.4pc and 29.1pc for a second dose.

Dr Genevieve Small, clinical lead north west London's Covid vaccination programme, said a number of factors are responsible, including young populations and natural suspicion.

"One of the things that we should always remember about London populations, which is absolutely true across north west London, is we have quite, by proportion of the rest of the country, a younger population in general," she said.

Vaccinations have now dropped to age 32 and older.

She said looking at "individual age cohorts" who have been vaccinated the figures are "quite good".

"We're conscious of some communities being more hesitant than others. We've done a lot of work trying to have conversations with those communities to truly understand what issues they may have.

"Some of them are based on historical understandings, perhaps vaccination programmes in the past were not always mindful of community concerns and healthcare in general."

Dr Small, who is a also GP in Harrow, said they are keen to vaccinate communities that have been hardest hit, which at the height of the pandemic last year was in Alperton and Church End.

"The whole of Covid has shown up health inequalities in a way that perhaps haven't so clearly demonstrated before.

"We are all aware of the fact that we need to be making sure that we are supporting people to make the right decisions and some people are surprised by the fact that we somehow look interested in vaccinating populations that haven't had a lot of attention before. A natural suspicion."

She also said people should be mindful of what they read.

"It's very sad that people may be prevented from receiving a life saving vaccine based on things that have no scientific evidence.

"The vaccines are safe, effective and reducing hospital admissions.

"Anybody who is reading or hearing or being exposed to information that makes them question that should reach out to a trusted health professional to talk them through what they may have read."