Stop the mass strikes and live with Covid, says former head of vaccine task force | Corona Virus

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The former head of the UK’s Vaccine Task Force has said that Covid must now be treated as an endemic influenza-like virus, and ministers must end mass vaccination after the booster drive.

With chiefs of health and senior governors also pushing for a post-pandemic plan for the strained NHS, Dr Clive Dix has called for a major rethink of the UK’s Covid strategy, reversing the approach of the past two years and returning to a “new normal”.

“We need to analyze whether we are using the current reinforcement campaign to ensure that vulnerable people are protected, if that is necessary,” he said. “Population-based mass vaccination in the UK must end now.”

He said ministers must urgently support research into Covid immunity beyond antibodies to include B cells and T cells (white blood cells), which can be used to create vaccines for people at risk for variants of Covid: “We now need to manage the disease, not the spread of the virus. So Halting the progression of severe disease in vulnerable groups is the future goal.”

His intervention comes as it has been revealed that more than 150,000 people across the UK have now died from Covid. Official figures published yesterday recorded 313 more deaths, the highest daily number since February last year when the last peak ebbed. The total deaths recorded within 28 days of a positive Covid test rises to 150,057. Meanwhile, NHS officials are warning that patient safety will be jeopardized this winter by a shortage of health and social care staff that will require an additional 1 million workers by the next decade. In the Observer, Chris Hobson, chief executive of National Health Service Providers, said the pandemic had exposed its “weakest link”.

He writes: “There is a clear, unfortunate, impact on the quality of care, and in the more stressed parts of the system, there is an alarming increase in patient safety risks.” “It is very clear now that the NHS and our social care system do not have enough capacity. Requiring staff to work harder to address this gap is simply not sustainable. We need a long-term, fully funded workforce plan to attract and retain an additional million health and care staff. According to the estimates of the Health Foundation, it will be needed by 2031.

Chris Hobson said the pandemic has exposed the “weakest link” in the NHS. Photography: Jonathan Hurdle/Rex/Shutterstock

The former health minister, Jeremy Hunt, also called for action: “The pandemic has highlighted workforce stress, but it has never been new. We can’t solve it overnight, but we have a moral duty for the NHS and care staff to look them in the eye after hell.” Over the past two years and to say that a long-term plan is in the works.”

Hopson said some NHS trusts outside London would see Covid hospital admissions rise above the previous record peak last year. “There are already a number of trusts whose hospitalization levels are at 100% from their peak in January 2021,” he said. “That is before they are anywhere near their current peaks. It is likely that these organizations are 10 days or two weeks away from their peak this time.”

He also said he understood that up to 40% of care homes had stopped accepting new admissions in the past week, making it difficult for hospitals to clear patients. Stephen Chandler, president of the Association of Adult Social Services Managers, said social care was in a “national emergency” because so many employees were sick.

A government spokesman said “historic amounts of funding” had been made available for the backlog into the NHS and social care. “Hospital admissions are on the rise, but this has not yet translated into the same numbers requiring intensive care that we saw in previous waves,” they said. “We are increasing the capacity of the NHS by building Nightingale Centers on site, as well as creating 2,500 virtual beds where people can be treated safely at home.”

Dix’s comments about ending mass vaccination came as the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) ruled that fourth doses are not currently required because most older adults who received boosters were still well protected by Omicron, three months after the booster campaign began. . The UK’s Health Security Agency said protection for those over the age of 65 was around 90%, three months after receiving a booster dose. JCVI Vice President Professor Anthony Harnden said the committee is monitoring the impact of Omicron on the elderly and frail on a weekly basis.

83-year-old Rachel Gershom and the elderly dance at a vaccination ceremony in Netanya, Israel, before they receive a fourth dose of the vaccine. Photograph: Ammar Awad/Reuters

A discussion unfolds about the fourth doses. Last week, Israel became the first country to embark on a fourth round of Covid vaccines, for those over 60 and health care workers who received a third hit at least three months ago. Greg Clark, the Conservative chair of the House of Commons science and technology committee, said a fourth dose of the vaccine should be considered for healthcare workers. “The UK Health Security Agency found that the effect of a third dose against transmission of Covid diminishes after 10 weeks,” he said. “Therefore, given the NHS staff shortage from self-isolation and the fact that NHS staff have had their support from mid-September, it is worth JCVI to consider whether an additional dose would help reduce absenteeism among front-line staff.”

Dix was instrumental in helping drug companies create Covid vaccines, which shifted the risks the virus posed to most people. He said he supported the current promotion campaign, but that a “new targeted strategy” was needed to get the UK in the position of “managing Covid” as an endemic virus. “First, we should consider when to stop testing and let individuals isolate when they are not feeling well and go back to work when they feel ready to do so. The same way we do in bad flu season.”

Dix said the government should support research and analysis of how effective vaccines are at producing “memory B and T cell immunity” — parts of the immune system that recognize Covid — and especially how they work with people over 60 and vulnerable groups with underlying health conditions. “With this data in hand, we should influence vaccine manufacturers who have vaccines that have demonstrated the most durable cellular responses to developing an Omicron and Delta vaccine to cover existing mutagenic strains,” he said, adding that Professor Paul Moss and Covid presented a consortium Immunology is an “excellent basis” for this.

Professor Eleanor Riley, Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the University of Edinburgh, said: “It all depends on the emergence of another variable.

A fourth dose or a second booster dose of the current vaccine probably won’t do much. The evidence is that immunity to severe diseases lasts longer. The only justification for doing a second booster dose for the majority of the population would be if we saw clear evidence that people, five or six months after the booster dose, ended up in the hospital with severe Covid.”

Health experts are also concerned that the intake of the booster vaccine last month was motivated by the public’s desire not to disrupt the holiday season. Now that the fear is gone, remove some of the urge to take the vaccine. Simon Williams of Swansea University added that in addition, there is a widespread perception that Omicron is milder and less worrisome. “We call it ‘variable fatigue’ which translates to people saying ‘This is what viruses do;’ We just need to go on with our lives. It’s not great from a public health perspective.”

However, Professor Helen Bedford of University College London, an expert in children’s health, cautioned that there was a risk of anti-vaccination being stacked with people who had nagging doubts about getting a vaccine. “If you do, you will miss the opportunity to convince those who have real concerns but can change their minds and get vaccinated. Criticizing them all doesn’t help that they are talking loudly.”

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