A shop manager has spoken from her hospital bed about catching covid and how scared she was to realise she had been struck down by the virus.
Zoe Ashton, 32, is currently one of 60 in-patients with the Delta variant of the virus in Birmingham's City Hospital and neighbouring Sandwell Hospital.
She is now urging anyone who will listen to take up the vaccine offer, or regret it, like she does.
Zoe was left breathless and in extreme pain after contracting the virus. and says says she put off having her vaccination because of work commitments.
She now wishes she had put her health first.
Speaking to Birmingham Live she said: “I would say to people who haven’t had the jab – put yourself first.
“I kept on thinking ‘I will get my vaccine in a couple of weeks’ time’ - and now I am suffering in hospital. I was trying to balance work and health but in the end it has led to me becoming very ill.
“If I had the vaccine I probably would have avoided hospital or certainly not been as ill as I am.”
Zoe’s symptoms started on Sunday, June 27 with a tickly cough.
She took two coronavirus tests which both came back negative - but she continued to stay home because she had been in contact with other sufferers.
As the week progressed her symptoms worsened. She was suffering from migraines, sickness and an aching body. She was also suffering chest pains every time she coughed.
Her husband dialled 999 on Sunday, July 4 after she became breathless and unable to move.
“I was hyperventilating,” explained Zoe, from Tipton.
“I was given a test when I got to the hospital and it came back positive.
“This is the sickest I have ever been and I am still on oxygen.
"I am struggling to breathe. I’ve felt scared and lonely and I’m definitely not well enough to go home just yet.
"I have to be helped to the toilet and feel really tired. My husband has also tested positive and he is recovering at home.
“We both wish we had the jab earlier.”
Dr Sarbjit Clare, consultant in acute medicine at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, said Zoe was one of many younger patients (under 50) in hospital with the virus - nearly all of them not yet vaccinated, or who have only had a single dose.
"The patients we are seeing are not fully vaccinated or have perhaps had a single vaccine and are younger than during the previous waves of this virus," she said.
"They are not often sick enough to need intensive care but they are gasping for breath, very poorly, very weak, it is not nice for them at all.
"They often do not come to us until they have already been ill for a few days as they are younger and able to tolerate it more, but they are getting poorly."
She said it was heartening that only in rare cases, and usually where a patient has a very compromised immune system, are fully vaccinated people ending up in hospital.
Public health teams across the region are desperate to get as many people vaccinated as possible, particularly with the threat of more restrictions lifting in the next fortnight.
Sandwell's director of public health, Dr Lisa McNally, urged people to come forward and get their jab - and in the meantime to take precautions to reduce risks, including wear a mask, wash hands regularly, maintain social distancing, and meet outdoors rather than indoors if possible.
