Letters - Monday, June 7, 2021

All restrictions on our freedoms, prompted by Covid, must end on June 21 as planned.

The Indian variant did prompt a sharp rise in cases in some areas, mostly as a result of a vastly increased testing, but hospitalisations and deaths did not rise commensurately.

Seventy-five per cent of the population have had one vaccine shot.

Nearly 60 per cent have had two and many others have a measure of immunity through catching Covid and recovering.

Probable immunity rises to over 95 per cent amongst the older and more vulnerable.

There will always be new variants coming along, and ‘zero Covid’ is impossible.

Spanish flu ravaged the world in 1918, but variants of it are still around today, and it will be the same with Covid.

The longer the restrictions remain in place, the more businesses will close, jobs will be lost and lives destroyed.

So from June 21 there must be no more mandatory distancing and no more mandatory face masks.

Let us all try to go back to as much of our previous ‘normality’ as possible.

JR Wainwright

via email

VIRUS

Why are Covid tests made in China?

I had to undertake a Covid lateral flow test. To my amazement, when obtaining the NHS testing kit from my local pharmacy, I see it is “Made in China”.

I cannot believe we do not have UK companies which can manufacture these kits.

Why are we not supporting home industries instead of supporting the economy of a very regressive regime with unanswered questions relating to the initial spread of Covid-19.

Anthony

via email

VIRUS

Covid curbs hitting blood cancer sick

I wanted to highlight that as Covid-19 restrictions ease, more than 110,000 people with blood cancer and blood disorders, including stem cell transplant patients, plan to shield.

Many are struggling with poorer mental health and, in some cases, are experiencing significant delays to their treatment. Anthony Nolan is warning that these patients are being left in the dark by the Government.

What makes the pandemic more concerning for this group of patients is that they are immunocompromised and more vulnerable to Covid-19. Studies have found that 34 per cent of blood cancer patients who contracted the virus did not survive. This risk is substantially higher than in the general population.

Worryingly, a recent study suggests that only 13 per cent of people with blood cancer had an antibody response after one dose of the Pfizer vaccine1 meaning that, every day, they are faced with difficult choices around returning to work and public spaces while remaining extremely vulnerable to the virus. This is against a backdrop of a cancer backlog in the NHS.

These patients were identified by the NHS as amongst the most vulnerable, yet, they have been forgotten time and again during this pandemic. We cannot risk the UK becoming a two-tiered society with these patients receiving less protection from approved vaccines and being forced to shield with little access to services or support.   

That’s why we are urging to Government to do more for these patients. We’d like them to step up and fund more vital research to enable patients to return to normal life with the rest of the UK, and make certain that everybody that needs treatment, and support, can access it without delay.

Your readers can write to their MP at anthonynolan.org/leftbehind or call our support line on 0303 303 0303 or visit anthonynolan.org.

Henny Braund

CEO, Anthony Nolan

TRAVEL

Ryanair extras are up to you...

I have flown with Ryanair many times and never had any problems (Your Say, June 3).

Most airlines charge for all the extras so I can’t understand why it’s always Ryanair that gets the negative comments.

My husband and I never book seats and take what they give us, even if we are not sat together. Reduce the amount of luggage that you take and only pay for one case. The ‘extras’ are up to you.

Judith McCormick

via email

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