Deputy chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), Professor Anthony Harnden, has defended Government plans to delay the second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine from three weeks to 12 weeks after the first jab.
Prof Harnden told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that patients he had dealt with accepted the move, stating: “When it was explained to them that the vaccine offers 90 per cent protection for one dose, and the priority was to get as many people vaccinated in the elderly and vulnerable community as possible, they understood.
“I think the country is all in this together.
“And, I think we really, really want to pull together to try and do the best strategy possible.”
– Hospital conditions ‘unbearable’, says nurse
A nurse has described the “unbearable” conditions in their hospital as Covid-19 patient numbers continue to rise.
The nurse, who works at the Whittington Hospital in north London, described patients being left in corridors, some spending up to three hours in ambulances because of a lack of beds and one being left without oxygen when their cylinder ran out.
The nurse, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the PA news agency: “I’m worried about patient safety because if these little things are happening now when we’re short and it’s busy, it’s only going to get worse. I don’t know what else will happen – it worries me.”
The number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals is at record levels in many areas of England – including London, the South West and the Midlands – with admissions rising above the levels seen during the first wave.
