Britain has closed its eyes to long Covid – which means it will ravage even more lives and livelihoods
Devi Sridhar – The Guardian
Extracts
The trauma of those pandemic years is burnt into our minds. But, whether we want to deal with it or not, Covid-19 is still affecting all of us, and circulating at fairly high levels in Britain this month. While community surveys are no longer conducted by the Office for National Statistics to estimate overall cases, hospital data from England indicates that the weekly hospital admission rate for Covid-19 is at 4.64 for every 100,000 people, with the north-east region at 8.91.
The longer legacy concerns people who had and cleared the infection, but are still suffering – what is usually referred to as Long Covid.
Recent concerns about economic inactivity are tied to the growing percentage of those unable to function due to Long Covid. A study in the Lancet in August 2021 estimated that 22% of people with long Covid were unable to work, and 45% were on reduced hours.
A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that vaccination strongly reduces the chance of serious problems of Long Covid. The study found that the incidence of experiencing symptoms one year after infection decreased during the pandemic from 10.42 cases for every 100 people for unvaccinated individuals in the pre-Delta period, to 3.5 cases a 100 people for vaccinated individuals in the Omicron period. They estimate that roughly 72% of the reduction in Long Covid was due to the vaccines, while 28% was linked to changing variants.
But very few groups in the UK are eligible for a 2024 autumn booster:
- adults 65 and older,
- residents in care homes,
- frontline NHS and social care workers,
- as well as those in high-risk groups.
The general population can get the Covid-19 vaccine, but it’s pricey, at nearly £100 a dose at Boots, for example. Compare this with the private cost of a flu jab at just under £22.
Looking at other countries’ policies, the UK is the outlier in continuing to restrict free boosters to certain groups. Constrained NHS budget means decisions have to be made on a cost-benefit basis, but avoiding the population-level effects of illness would not only benefit the individual but also the NHS and wider economy.
Further Information
Read our blog about the covid booster for more information about the vaccination, and about eligibility for this vaccination for those with ME/CFS: