A person receiving a Covid-19 jab
(Picture: PA Wire)NHS chief Amanda Pritchard issued an urgent plea to millions of people to get fully jabbed against Covid to protect the health service which is struggling to cope under huge pressure.
She stressed that the “best thing” the public could do to ease pressure on the NHS was “just to take up” the offer of a booster, or first and second dose if people have not yet had them.
She made the appeal as hospital bosses were warning how patient care was suffering, including people having to wait 12-13 hours for a bed for emergency admission and more than five million people on waiting lists.
Waits of more than two years for inpatient care in some specialities were still expected to be happening after next March, a deadline which hospitals have been given to deal with delays.
“We are facing a really tough winter,” Ms Pritchard told BBC Radio 4.
“The best thing that the public could do to help us really is just to take up that offer of a vaccination.
“If they are due a booster, please take it, but equally the ever-green offer is there so anyone who has not had a first or second jab can still access services any time, and the flu jab is also an important way of protecting yourself.”
Health chiefs on Monday announced that booster jabs were being extended to those over 40.
Other groups already eligible include people aged 50 and over, frontline workers, care home residents and workers, and people aged 16 and over with a health condition that puts them at risk of getting seriously ill from Covid.
People can book their booster five months after their second vaccine, and have it six months after their second.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is also advised that a second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine should be offered to 16-17 year olds who are not in a Covid-19 at-risk group.
Boris Johnson repeated his call for people to get boosted, tweeting: “It would be a tragedy if people who had done the right thing by getting double vaccinated ended up becoming seriously ill or even losing their lives because they allowed their immunity to wane by not getting their booster.”
Ministers are urging people to get boosted to also reduce the risk of Covid restrictions having to be reimposed.
Ms Pritchard explained there were 6,864 patients in hospital with Covid.
Latest data showed the highest ever number of 999 calls in a month and more than 1.4 million people treated in A&E departments.
