I suspect vaccination rates are tied in with deprivation. Difficult to communicate to people who are disillusioned (with good reason, and suspicious).Nice map
But there is no potential about Manchester being a problem for the reasons you state.
I have been posting its vaccination numbers daily because they wete so low and showing how it's cases have been escalating on Zoe and saying for a week it will soon overtake Bolton. And it just has.
Unfortunately Greater Manchester is the epicentre of this variant and has one of the least vaccinated places (Manchester) and one of the most (Stockport) literally side by side.
That is not going to help either as boundaries are imaginary and do not mean a damn to a virus.
GM has to get this under control. Until it does talk of opening up in 3 weeks - in GM anyway - is pointless.
As of last night nearly all GM boroughs are in the watch list. And case numbers have skyrocketed everywhere in the past week. Nobody is getting away with it around here.
Until we get on top of this spread we cannot know which way this is going to go. The vaccinations are making a difference but I do not understand why no effort seems to be going into speeding up the dismal numbers in Manchester. Who will only just cross 50% of the population having one jab - versus Stockport close to three quarters.
The focus on Bolton has helped there and numbers seem to be stabilising but that is coming at the expense of Bury Manchester, Salford and others rising to overtake them. Narrow focus on one place just lets this variant spread faster.
I think they could do more in the news to publish this data and make local people really aware of what the risks are. THen you might get people in Manchester coming forward for vaccines.
As usual the publicity will probably happen after the event but you can see it unfolding now.
The Bolton picture is both encouraging and discouraging. Encouraging because there it was turned around and I think I remember a stat to say there were 41 people in the Royal Bolton NHS Trust Hospital(s), and new admissions were falling (a week old) but discouraging in that there they have vaccination levels that are pretty close to the national picture but Manchester is below. If it takes vaccination to protect Manchester, then we have a long way to go and a lot of people could be at risk.
THose people who say we must open up on the 21st June should look at the data. If the infection increases in Manchester, it will be very demanding to just combat it with vaccines. Probably impossible in the short term. When you look at the headline rates for the UK that they show on the news each night, it's quite good but some areas fall between the cracks.