Imagine being forced to swallow two golf balls dipped in chilli powder. That’s what Covid felt like last week, when I succumbed after avoiding it for the entire pandemic. Omicron mild? The struggle to eat, sleep and swallow was mildly nightmarish.
A fiery throat is apparently the most common symptom of the latest, rampant, variant. Its name, BA-5, sounds like a departure lounge, which is exactly where I felt I was heading at times. Is this too melodramatic? I haven’t been ill since 2019, so perhaps I’ve gone soft. My unpleasant experience is nothing compared to those hospitalised or killed in the pandemic – we have now passed 200,000 deaths in the UK.
Nevertheless, BA-5 genuinely felt more debilitating than any infection I can remember pre-pandemic. This is a widely shared experience. One in 16 people in Scotland has Covid now, higher than the UK’s worrying 1 in 18. So many friends are afflicted, and all report being floored. Should we be surprised? Immunity is waning, as the UK’s second booster was restricted to the over-75s, clinically vulnerable and health and care workers. The announcement on Friday to include over-50s in the autumn feels a little late.
By contrast, everyone in Israel had a fourth vaccine months ago. Research there shows it protects against serious illness for at least six weeks and is more effective than the third jag. The US authorised a fourth shot for the over-50s back in March. Several Canadian provinces offer it to anyone over 18 who’s last booster was more than six months ago.
Following Friday’s UK announcement, many question why younger people will miss out. Last December they were all urged to get boosted to “save Christmas”. What’s changed? Covid hasn’t.
The disease is putting hundreds of people into hospital and making millions more miserable – now. Yet it hardly figures in the Conservative leadership campaign. It is largely absent from the evening news. Where are the public health warnings as the NHS buckles?
In the week to 3 July, 1.65 million working days were lost to Covid in the UK. An ailing economy cannot afford this level of inactivity.
Until May the JCVI was advising that a second booster, in autumn, should only be extended to over-65s. In 2021 it took a lot of high pressure campaigning for some younger disabled people be added to appropriate JVCI priority list for vaccines. Last week it was criticised for excluding younger asthmatics from that second booster.
It was parents, education unions and politicians who pushed for the vaccination of children last year, not the JCVI, which was even slow to commit to universal Christmas boosters. Politicians like to say they are “following clinical advice”. But we know they can and do step in when necessary.
The UK was once a world leader on Covid vaccinations – because government took the initiative. Now there seem to be too many distractions. The official Covid response has stuttered, and not just on booster shots. Joe Biden’s US streaks ahead in pioneering technological suppression methods, like air filtration systems and FP2 masks. We should pilot these before another new variant pulls away the rug flooring thousands more.
This is an opportunity for the Scottish Government to do its own thing, follow international best practice, maybe even innovate. Following the UK lead was acceptable when Boris Johnson’s government was ahead on vaccines. Now they are distracted and divided, could we do better? There is a difference, surely, between sensibly “living with Covid” and settling down with complacency. Scotland should never choose the latter.
Enjoy the convenience of having The Sunday Post delivered as a digital ePaper straight to your smartphone, tablet or computer.
Subscribe for only £5.49 a month and enjoy all the benefits of the printed paper as a digital replica.
Subscribe