Are we sleepwalking to another avoidable disaster?
The initial vaccine rollout in the UK was a world-beater and those responsible were rightly applauded But covid doesn’t respect complacency.
This deadly virus constantly mutates and earlier in the summer experts warned us that a third booster dose of vaccine was needed six months after a second jab if the NHS was not going to be overwhelmed by a combination of Covid and seasonal flu.
The signs are already ominous. Covid is on the march again and time is running out.
At the start of this week, almost 50,000 new covid cases were recorded in a day – the highest figure since mid July – along with almost 1,000 hospital admissions. These figures are up almost seven percent on the previous week, with deaths rising by 11.4 percent.
More than half of those eligible for a third jab – 4.8 million – have yet to receive it, and as their immunity starts to wane, infection rates are rising.
No wonder there’s worrying talk of yet another lockdown by Christmas if the graph continues to show an upward trajectory. There is even a new ‘super’ Delta variant in town that is 10-15 percent more infectious and already makes up 10 percent of new cases.
In mid-September the government promised that those at most risk- the over 80s and the clinically vulnerable – would receive a third booster jab by the middle of December. And they announced that everyone over 50 was eligible for a third jab six months after their 2nd dose.
Hoorah!
