Young people warn of long Covid in NHS vaccination drive
Young people experiencing long Covid have urged people to get their vaccine in a new NHS video, featuring three previously healthy people in their early 20s and 30s.
Quincy Dwamena, a 31 year-old a support worker, described himself in the video as a “healthy young guy”, warned “I ended up being hospitalised and thought I was going to die. My advice is to get the vaccine: don’t put yourself and others at risk, I wish I’d got mine as soon as it was offered.”
Data from Public Health England has shown young people aged 16 to 29 at more likely to develop long Covid, however, vaccine uptake among this age group is lower than average, particularly within the London area.
Speaking in the NHS video, Dr Emeka Okorocha, an emergency medicine physician said, “As an A&E doctor, I’ve seen a lot during the pandemic. But nothing has shaken me like the sight of young, otherwise healthy adults being rushed into our hospitals with Covid-19. As well as their age, many of them have one other thing in common: they are unvaccinated.”
Source: The Guardian, 23 August 2021