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Thousands of people with asthma were unable to receive their Covid vaccine on time, a charity has warned, as it called on people with the disease to receive a booster shot this fall.
Asthma The UK has said all people with asthma eligible for a free annual flu shot should be on the list when the coronavirus booster shots roll out, after months of confusion over existing vaccines.
The charity’s calculations, based on a survey of more than 1,200 people with asthma, suggest that about half of those with the disease did not receive their Covid vaccine on time.
Asthma UK estimated that 280,000 people deemed to be at increased risk of dying from Covid-19 due to asthma had not received their first Covid vaccine at the end of March when they should have been vaccinated, and more than 100,000 were waiting still two months later.
In February, the Government confirmed that people with asthma would be given priority to receive their first Covid-19 vaccine if they had a letter of protection (priority group 4) or if they had previously been hospitalized for their asthma or if they had already taken three courses of steroid tablets orals over a three-month period (priority group 6).
But that led to widespread confusion, with some patients being turned away by general surgeries and family physicians having trouble determining who was eligible based on their risk.
Anecdotal evidence collected by Asthma UK from patients and clinicians revealed that some GPs were unable to identify who should have been given priority, while some medical records were wrong.
An estimated 13,300 patients were told their GPs had no hospital admission records, while the criteria for steroid tablets were deemed too complicated for many GP computer systems to be able to search. .
In some parts of the country, communication between different parts of the NHS Computer systems meant that prescriptions for oral steroid tablets generated outside GP’s offices were unlikely to appear on a patient’s GP record, the charity said.
Asthma UK is now urging the government to use the free influenza vaccine list, which includes around 3.4 million people with asthma, arguing that this would also reduce the burden on GPs.
Dr Andy Whittamore, practicing general practitioner and clinical manager at Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation said: ‘NHS services have been working around the clock to ensure that people who need help continue to receive the care they need safely during this time of crisis.
“The government has the opportunity to deploy the recall potential well and must listen to the experiences of patients and those on the front lines.
“What is clear is that the current system does not work for GPs or people with asthma. GP practices don’t want to face the same challenges again later this year, when valuable lessons can be learned and implemented now.
“Keeping it simple is the key. The government now has the opportunity to learn from the lessons of the last time and put in place a simple and effective system ready for any recall campaign so that no one with asthma at higher risk for coronavirus misses the extra protection they can afford. he has. may need to. “
Sarah Woolnough, Managing Director of Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation, said: “It is totally unacceptable that around half of people with asthma who are at a higher risk of getting very sick or even dying from Covid-19 failed to get vaccinated. at the right time despite being eligible due to issues with GP systems and search criteria.
“Asthma leaves people struggling to breathe, at risk for life-threatening asthma attacks and causes more than 75,000 hospitalizations each year.
“With a likely deployment of the Covid-19 booster vaccine, the government must act.
“We believe the best way to make sure no one is left behind is to immunize everyone with asthma who needs it and who is on the free flu shot list.”
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