Medical Centre

  How worried should we be about the omicron variant? When any new variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 is identified, we don’t at first know how infectious it will be; whether it will cause a more serious illness than other variants; and how well vaccines will work against it. We therefore need to be cautious and take measures to control the spread of Omicron until this information becomes available. We shouldn’t however become unduly anxious. I’ve heard that the variant causes more mild symptoms. Is that true and if so why are we worried? Some early reports from South Africa suggest that Omicron may cause a milder illness than other variants. However, we will need data from many more people infected with the Omicron variant – particularly, older and clinically vulnerable people – before we can reach reliable conclusions about the severity of the illness it causes. Why are they giving more booster jabs if the new variant can evade existing vaccines? Two doses of cur...

 The NHS is now rolling out booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines. Today, the JCVI recommended that all adults in the UK should receive a booster. Why do we need these boosters? The number of Covid-19 cases in the UK is currently around 40,000 per day. This is amongst the highest rate of infection of any country in the world and higher than many of our Western European neighbours. Vaccines are protecting us and without them, we would be seeing many more people who are seriously ill. However, some of these infections will still lead to a serious illness and death, even in people who have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine as no vaccine is 100% effective. We know that the protection provided by Covid-19 vaccines can weaken over time – particularly in the elderly or in those people with weak immune systems. Research from the UK and elsewhere shows that a booster (third) dose of a vaccine improves your immunity to Covid-19 and reduces your risk of a serious illness that may lead to ...

The NHS is now rolling out booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines. Why do we need these boosters and who can receive them? The number of Covid-19 cases in the UK is around 40,000 per day. This is amongst the highest rate of infection of any country in the world and higher than all our Western European neighbours. Vaccines are protecting us and without them, we would be seeing many more people who are seriously ill. However, some of these infections will still lead to a serious illness and death, even in people who have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine as no vaccine is 100% effective.  We know that the protection provided by Covid-19 vaccines can weaken over time – particularly in the elderly or in those people with weak immune systems. Research from other countries shows that a booster (third) dose of a vaccine improves your immunity to Covid-19 and reduces your risk of a serious illness that may lead to hospitalisation or death. Some people with medical conditions or who are t...

 The NHS is now rolling out booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines and flu jabs.  The number of Covid-19 cases in the UK remains very high. Vaccines are protecting us and without them, we would be seeing many more people who are seriously ill.  However, no vaccine is 100% effective. Some Covid-19 infections will still lead to a serious illness, even in people who have received two doses of vaccine. Flu will also be a threat this winter. We know that the protection provided by Covid-19 vaccines can weaken over time – particularly in the elderly or in people with medical problems. A booster (third) dose of a vaccine improves your immunity and reduces your risk of a serious illness.  We want as many people as possible to receive Covid-19 boosters and flu jabs before the onset of winter when pressures on the NHS increase.  The people being targeted for boosters are those at highest risk of serious illness and death from a Covid-19 infection. This includes people aged 50...