I'm not so convinced as to the similarities between Newcastle and Blackburn. Two universities in Newcastle to start with.
The North East is not a completely homogenous blob - Wallsend and Wooler are very different places - so looking at just the regional level figures may be a touch simplistic.
These are the latest age rates across the council areas in the region.
Durham is a unitary county so stripping out Durham itself would be interesting. Newcastle again home to a University, or rather two. Although several other areas outstrip it in the 15-24 rates, which surprised me somewhat.
A swathe of Green for the older age groups in the main; although, and I'm falling into my own trap here, the North East at a regional level has some of highest vaccine uptake rates of any English region. Which in turn hides the lower take up rates - across age groups, not just overall - in Newcastle.
The North East has though the highest case rate of any region, and Newcastle has one of , if not the, highest rate of any council area.
You can see the creep into some of the councils into the 30s and 40s age groups; however the picture is mixed.