A fifth of people on the government’s clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) list had not had the Covid vaccine by 14 February – the date by when the government said that everyone in the first four groups had been offered the vaccine.
NHS England data shows that between 92% and 99% of people in the 70 to 80+ age brackets had had at least one dose of the vaccine by 14 February, but only 81.2% of the listed 2,272,491 clinically extremely vulnerable people in the UK had had the vaccine.
The DHSC has suggested that shielders on the clinically extremely vulnerable list became eligible for the vaccine later than those aged 75 or above which may account for the discrepancy. DR UK’s Head of Policy Fazilet Hadi said: “There are whole demographics of Disabled people who we still believe were not properly prioritised for the vaccine. For example people with asthma may have been put in group four, or group six, or not prioritised at all. We know that people with breathing conditions are at higher risk of complications and dying. The same goes for people with Muscular Dystrophy and spinal injuries. We would encourage people with underlying health conditions who have not yet been put into a group or received a text or letter inviting them to be vaccinated to contact their GPs as a matter of urgency, to outline their conditions, and to request to be put into the current cohort, group six.”