Black pregnant women and those living in the most deprived parts of England are least likely to be vaccinated against Covid, according to the latest government figures. 

Although the number of expectant mothers in general receiving at least one dose increased between November last year when 48.7 per cent were jabbed compared with 59.5 per cent in January this year, factors such as ethnicity and deprivation had an impact on uptake, statistics from the UK Health Security Agency reveal.

Three in 10 black women had one or more doses by the time they gave birth between November 2021 and January 2022 compared with 57.5 per cent of white women while just 38.9 per cent of pregnant women living in the most deprived areas received one or more doses compared with 71.1 per cent in the least deprived parts of the country. 

However, the figures for pregnant women overall were encouraging. More than half received two doses in January, an increase on the 38.4 per cent and 43.3 per cent in November and December last year respectively.

In total, 125,365 pregnant women received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine between January 2021 and January this year while 88,736 received at least two and 14,378 received three doses during the same period.