"Why are we any different?": Immune-suppressed Suffolk woman calls for roll out of new Covid-19 jab
A Suffolk woman says she still lives in fear of Covid-19 - because for her, none of the vaccines are effective
Last updated 5th Jul 2022
Almost three years from the start of the Covid-19 pandemic there are calls for the government to roll out a vaccine for people with suppressed immune systems.
People with compromised immune systems remain at serious risk from the virus, even with vaccinations.
Many of the most common vaccines do not offer enough protection for people with a weakened immune system: whether due to a particular health condition or though taking immunosuppressant drugs.
Ipswich business owner Andrea Powell is one of those people.
She takes medication to prevent her body rejecting a donated kidney, which she received in a transplant 25 years ago.
Because of her weakened immune system she has to shield and is mainly limited to seeing friends and relatives outside.
"I had a funeral of of a of a close uncle and I had to sit separate from all of my family and friends and my cousin at the end" she said.
"And we went outside and I took my mask off then and and she said 'I can't give you a hug. Can I?' And I just went. 'No'."
"That's what it means."
"Because it gives us the antibodies, it makes us like you."
"(It means we can) come to work and meet customers without having to have a plastic screen over, without having to wear a mask, without having to go to the theatre and wear a medical grade mask."
"It allows us to have the same freedoms that you are now taking for granted again."
Andrea is staking her hopes on a new vaccine called Evusheld, recently developed by AstraZeneca and approved by the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Evusheld has been proven effective in protecting people with a compromised immune system from Covid-19.
Despite being officially approved for use here - and being already available in more than 30 countries - it is yet to be offered to patients in the UK.
Andrea said "The MHRA on the 17th of March, basically approved the use of Evusheld in the UK, which means that they did all their research and their testing exactly like they did for the vaccines, and approved it."
Andrea thinks the government is yet to purchase the vaccine for use on the NHS.
"According to the AstraZeneca side of it, they are not in any kind of talks about purchasing it.
"They (the Government) have claimed that they need to do more research, for example on whether it works against Omicron.
"Yet the AstraZeneca spokesman says that there is no research currently being done on (variants) four and five.
"They say they need to check the dosage. Well, it's already working it in 30 countries around the world. So look at them for a starting point.
"It it's almost like. Why are we? Why are we any different to anywhere else in the world?
"If it's good enough, the US, Canada and the other countries, and Europe, etcetera, then why isn't it good enough for us?"
"Is this arrogance or is it indifference?"
We asked the Department of Health and Social Care for an update on the rollout of the vaccine. A spokesperson said:
"We recognise the strong interest from patients in receiving Evusheld as a preventative therapy prior to exposure of Covid."
"We have been conducting an assessment of Evusheld, which includes asking clinicians to advise on the most appropriate option for the NHS in line with all available data, and ministers are considering the advice which has been presented to them."
Andrea feels her life is being limited even further by a lack of urgency from the government to roll out Evusheld:
"They won't listen, they won't engage and they certainly won't change their mind in in when presented with real life stories.
"I think that we need to be able to contribute towards society."
"This is this is our levelling up. Levelling up is not just an issue about hard cash in people's pockets.
"For us, levelling up is about being given the same opportunities and the same chance to live as somebody else when the solution is so, so, so simple."