Asthma sufferer joins call for all patients to be given Covid vaccine
13:48, 04 March 2021
updated: 12:06, 09 March 2021
A long-term asthma sufferer is angry her condition has just been downgraded in the priority groups to get the Covid-19 vaccine.
Maxine Harding, 52, who has lived with the respiratory illness since childhood and has suffered several bouts of pneumonia and pleurisy, had been expecting to get her jab imminently.
But like thousands of others across the country, she has been told that she has been removed from priority group number six, which now relates to "severe" cases, and is now in category nine, meaning she could have to wait months to be vaccinated.
Asthma UK has stepped in to urge the government to revert all sufferers, including those on inhaled steroids, to the higher priority list.
Maxine, who has been working from home over the past year, is wary about returning to her job in recruitment in Chatham next month, when lockdown restrictions are lifted, if she has not been immunised.
She is registered with Thames Avenue Surgery, Rainham, and lives in Lower Halstow and has expressed her concerns to the respective MPs Rehman Chishti and Gordon Henderson.
Maxine said: "It's shocking that people with respiratory problems are not being taken seriously, especially as we have always been told that we are at high risk to get Covid.
"Asthma should not be age-related when it comes to the vaccine - all ages can get asthma and all ages can die from it.
"Originally, individuals with asthma were under the impression that we would fall into the category of group six and I understand this was supported and backed up with evidence supplied by Asthma UK.
"But the government seems to have done a U-turn on this. Much to the horror of many medical professionals they have removed asthma from group six, only leaving severe asthma in that category.
"I know personally that when I get a cold virus it always knocks me in a far greater way than those without a respiratory condition.
"So why are individuals with asthma being put down the list? Surely the government can see that if we become sick with long-term health conditions it will increase the strain and cost to the NHS system which does not make sense?
"All ages can get asthma and all ages can die from it..."
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “Our priority is to save lives and protect the most vulnerable, and based on clinical risk the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has recommended that adults with severe asthma should be vaccinated in priority group six.
“This includes anyone who has ever had an emergency asthma admission to hospital and those who require regular steroids. Mild asthma, including that which can be treated by an inhaler alone, has not been found to carry a higher risk of serious outcomes from Covid-19.”
The government is following the advice from independent experts at the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on which groups of people to prioritise for Covid-19 vaccines. They advised the immediate priority should be to prevent deaths and protect health and care staff, with old age deemed the single biggest factor determining mortality, and the NHS is now working tireless to vaccinate this group.
Adults with asthma which requires continuous or repeated use of systemic steroids or with previous exacerbations requiring hospital admission, will be vaccinated in priority group six. This will include:
- anyone who has ever had an emergency asthma admission;
- or those who have an asthma diagnosis and have had three prescriptions for oral steroids over a three-month period (each prescription must fall within separate individual month windows), as an indication of repeated or continuous oral steroids.
An individual with a more severe case of asthma may have been included in the Clinically Extremely Vulnerable group, in which case they should have been vaccinated in group four.
Based on lower clinical risk of serious outcomes, regardless of whether they use an inhaler or not, adults with mild asthma who do not meet the inclusion criteria would not be included within the JCVI priority group six.
Asthma UK has started a petition, calling on the UK government to prioritise everyone with asthma for the next wave of the vaccine roll-out. You can sign it at www.asthma.org.uk/
