Members of the public in England have been urged to get their Covid-19 shots as the number of people in hospital with the disease rises.
Millions of people, including adults aged 65 or older and those with certain health conditions are eligible for free vaccination against both flu and Covid-19.
Health leaders issued a joint statement this week asking eligible members of the public to book their winter booster shots as soon as possible in the hopes of getting everyone at risk innoculated by the end of October.
The country has jump-started its vaccination campaign because of concerns over a new variant called BA.2.86.
Scientists are worried that BA.2.86 may be better than other variants at escaping existing protection from previous infection and vaccination because it has a lot of mutations.
It’s impossible to know how many people in the country have Covid-19 as the country’s testing operations have been pared back since the height of the pandemic. Large-scale testing sites have long been shuttered and home testing kits are no longer widely available for free.
The number of hospital patients testing positive, however, is tracked closely and has been on the rise for some weeks.
On July 20, just over 1,000 patients in England’s public hospitals had Covid-19. But by the end of August that figure had risen to 2,500. The most recent data — from September 10 — shows it’s since grown to more than 3,150.
Around 1,050 patients of these patients were being treated primarily for Covid that day. Others will have tested positive while receiving care for something else.
For now, the number of people in intensive care with Covid-19 remains relatively low.
Leaders hope that rolling out earlier vaccination will help prevent as many people as possible from needing hospital treatment or critical care for illnesses like Covid-19 and flu.
U.K. health minister, Maria Caulfield, said: “As we enter the autumn months, it’s vital that the most vulnerable groups receive flu and Covid-19 vaccines to strengthen their immunity and reduce pressure on the NHS.”
NHS director for Vaccinations and Screening, Steve Russell, added: “Vaccines are our best protection against flu and Covid-19, and I strongly encourage all eligible people to come forward for their lifesaving winter vaccines as soon as they can.”
Winter is always a particularly busy time for hospitals, largely because of the spread of winter viruses like flu, which can be dangerous and even deadly to vulnerable people.
The country’s public health system —the National Health Service — is itself in a vulnerable position, having been under intense pressure for more than a year as demand for hospital beds and urgent care vastly outstrips capacity.
The situation has been exacerbated by ongoing industrial action, which has seen 10 months of strikes from groups including nurses, doctors and ambulance staff.
Some of this action ended earlier this year after many staff groups received a pay rise.
But doctors, who are paid according to a different framework, are still walking out regularly over pay and working conditions they say are making it hard for the health service to recruit and retain staff.
There’s not yet a clear end in sight for this dispute, with fresh walk-outs scheduled to begin Wednesday. A further round of strikes is set for October 2.
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