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In news that will shock no one – Covid patients in ICU are now almost all unvaccinated

Published 12:04 23 Nov 2021 GMT

Updated 12:19 23 Nov 2021 GMT

Ava Evans

In news that will shock no one – Covid patients in ICU are now almost all unvaccinated

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Head of Oxford jab programme says covid-19 is no longer a disease of the vaccinated

According to Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, the “ongoing horror” of patients gasping for breath in hospital is now “largely restricted” to people who are unvaccinated. Writing in The Guardian, the Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group says covid is “no longer a disease of the vaccinated” adding that “vaccines tend to limit this suffocating affliction.” Though cases in the United Kingdom continue to rise, the risk of serious illness is dramatically reduced through vaccination. Professor Pollard said: “In countries with lower vaccination rates, the impact of the current wave in hospital ICUs will be far worse than in Britain”. Urging people to get their first, second and booster jabs, he said: “the latest wave of the virus in the UK, which is now rising rapidly in parts of Europe, will directly translate into a stream of mostly unvaccinated patients entering ICU”. Analysis by the British Medical Journal has shown 40 000 patients with covid-19 who were admitted to hospital between December 2020 and July 2021 a total of 33 496 (84 per cent) had not been vaccinated. It found that only 5198 (13 per cent) of these patients had received their first vaccine and 1274 (3 per cent) their second. The observation by Pollard comes after Barts Health NHS Trust, which has five hospitals, announced it was having to reopen more intensive care beds and boost oxygen supplies to accommodate soaring numbers of covid patients who are not fully vaccinated. Speaking earlier this month, Chief Medical Officer for Barts Health Trust, Professor Alistair Chesser said: “Most of our covid admissions are not fully vaccinated. It’s an ongoing challenge in this part of London to push and persuade people that vaccination is good for them." A letter published in The Telegraph this morning (November 23) by Dr Dipankar Bose of Warwick Hospital has suggested the unvaccinated, unless exempted, “should be asked to pay towards care in the NHS if they come for covid-related treatment”. Dr Dipankar said unvaccinated patients are blocking beds and thus limiting the number of elective surgeries the hospital is able to perform. He said the NHS has “become a free insurance policy for the unvaccinated in case they get covid. It is time to take that free insurance away”. On Monday, the UK reported 44,917 covid cases and over 50 million first doses of the vaccine administered. Government figures show there have been nearly 9.9 million confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK and almost 144,000 people have died. Related Links:

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