Omicron: SAGE warning calls for policy decisions 'sooner'
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New data from the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre suggests that, if you’re unvaccinated, you could be up to 60 times more likely find yourself in intensive care if you are infected with COVID-19.
This is a startling figure that comes at a time when the Omicron variant is surging through England as the only one of the four nations that hasn’t brought in any major Covid restrictions.
From today new restrictions are in place in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Since November, the Omicron variant has gone viral in the UK and around the world.
The age group where this difference in protection for the vaccinated vs the unvaccinated is in the older age groups.
It is these age groups that are the most vulnerable to COVID-19 due to their weakened immune systems and increased likelihood of having conditions that make them more vulnerable.
This isn’t to say that younger people aren’t vulnerable.
With millions still unvaccinated in the UK, this statistic should hopefully provide an impetus for those who haven’t got the vaccine, or don’t want the vaccine, to reconsider their position.
The vaccine is one of the best hopes for fighting COVID-19.
It is vital for protecting ourselves and our families from a disease that has left thousands of families mourning since the pandemic began in 2020.
Not only is the vaccine key, but so are simple and easy measures such as mask wearing and social distancing.
These are some of the last things people want to do at this time of year as we visit our families over the festive period.
This is why people have been encouraged to be careful and take reasonable steps such as using home testing kits so they can be reassured that they don’t have Covid.
This hasn’t stopped Boris Johnson from being criticised of late for not acting as the other nations have on trying to stop the spread of Omicron.
Plan B, a set of restrictions that included working from home and wearing masks on public transport, was introduced just before Christmas.
Boris Johnson is set to decide tomorrow if England and/or the rest of the United Kingdom will go into a post-Christmas lockdown.
The decision over whether we go into lockdown will be based predominantly on how the NHS is coping.
In London, the UK’s current Omicron hotspot, hospitalisations are rising sharply as people who were infected just weeks ago find themselves in hospital with severe Covid.
As greater immunity to the virus has built up thanks in large part to the vaccine, a greater and greater majority of the patients in hospital with Covid have been the unvaccinated.
As a result, with millions still without a single dose of vaccine in their arms, the nation is left in a dangerous position as we head further into winter.
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