Unvaccinated puts NHS at risk as UK death toll from Covid tops 150,000 – The Yorkshire Post says

The first European country to pass the grimmest of milestones, the stark statistic does not do justice to the enormity of the death toll over the past two years.

Make unvaccinated pay for NHS care and follow Singapore’s example as Omicron variant takes hold - Andrew Vine

This is 150,000 families who have an empty place at the dinner table as a result of a pandemic – and there will be painfully few who have not been touched by Covid.

Yet, as Yorkshire pays its respects, the effectiveness of vaccines in protecting people from the now dominant Omicron variant offers a glimmer of light.

So, too, is the public’s continuing good sense whose precautionary approach is sparing the NHS an even greater crisis amid record staff absenteeism.

And the UK will have to become accustomed to this new way of life as it transitions from pandemic to endemic, a process that could take many years according to Nadhim Zahawi, the Education Secretary.

As such, it was significant that Mr Zahawi rebutted reports that the availability of free lateral flow tests is to be scaled back – for now they remain a critical public health safeguard so that Covid is not transmitted inadvertently to the elderly and clinically vulnerable.

This is not a time for complacency as Britain looks to keep the economy functioning and protect liberties in this difficult phase of the virus fight.

But what the Minister did not indicate is how the Government intends to reach out to the unvaccinated who continue to occupy a disproportionate number of NHS intensive care beds.

And, unless it does so, these vaccine refuseniks, as distinct from any patients with genuine medical exemptions, will continue to compromise the country’s ability to recover from Covid and prevent even more unnecessary deaths.

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