Did the UK's public health shielding policy protect the clinically extremely vulnerable during the Covid-19 pandemic in Wales? Results of EVITE Immunity, a linked data retrospective study (15 February 2023)

Summary

During the first waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, the UK shielding policy was introduced with the intention to protect people at the highest risk of harm from Covid-19 infection. This study in the journal Public Health aimed to describe intervention effects in Wales at one year.

The authors retrospectively compared linked demographic and clinical data for cohorts of people identified for shielding from 23 March to 21 May 2020 with the rest of the population. The largest clinical categories in the shielded cohort were severe respiratory condition (35.5%), immunosuppressive therapy (25.9%) and cancer (18.6%). The study found that:

• Deaths and healthcare utilisation were higher amongst shielded people than the general population, as would be expected in the sicker population.
• Differences in testing rates, deprivation and pre-existing health are potential confounders, but lack of clear impact on infection rates raises questions about the success of shielding and indicates that further research is required to fully evaluate this national policy intervention.