BRITAIN’s Covid-19 vaccination drive has broken the link between infections, hospital admissions and deaths, a senior NHS official said, adding that hospitals are now reporting fewer and younger patients.
Hospitals are lately seeing younger patients, who are less clinically vulnerable and are less in need of critical care, NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson told Times Radio.
“So it’s not just the numbers of people who are coming in, it’s actually the level of harm and clinical risk," he said
“It’s important not to just focus on the raw numbers here … you also do need to look at who’s being admitted into hospital and how clinically vulnerable and what level of acuity they’ve got,” Hopson said, admitting that people may still end up with long Covid.
Referring to Bolton which is battling its way out of a surge in cases feared to have been caused by the delta variant, Hopson said it had “gone through its complete cycle” and NHS staff were able to cope with the level of infection.
In the UK, the vaccine rollout is now open for people aged between 25 to 29. More than 40 million people have received the first dose of the vaccine and nearly 28 million people have been fully vaccinated.
Hopson’s comments came at the time when the UK government is reported to be mulling over the reopening on June 21, amid speculation that the lockdown easing may be delayed by two weeks to a month. A decision is expected on Monday (14).
Bob Blackman MP speaks during the event