poorly planned and implemented by NHS England<\/a>\u00a0and has caused a lot of confusion.<\/p>\n– a booster dose programme. This is going OK but could be speeded up to provide more protection for key groups of people before the full onset of winter.<\/p>\n
– a programme for 12-15 year olds. This has got off to a very slow start in England.<\/p>\n
Speeding up all these vaccination programmes is essential and is our best defence against Covid-19.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
2. Try to reduce social contacts; for example, by asking staff to work from home where possible. The government has been encouraging people to \u201cget back into the office\u201d but I think we should be cautious over the winter.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
3. Face masks. The government needs to reconsider its policy. In my view, face masks should be required in settings such as shops and public transport.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
4. Vaccine mandates \/ vaccine passports \/ negative test results. Many European countries require these for entry to higher risk settings such as nightclubs, bars and indoor events. No vaccine is 100% effective but the fact is that an unvaccinated person is much more likely to become infected and transmit infection to others than a vaccinated person. The government has flipped-flopped on this policy (currently against) but have said they may reconsider.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Effective measures now can help bring Covid-19 under control, protect public health, keep pressures on the NHS manageable, and get us through the Winter.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We all want to avoid another lockdown. We need sustainable public health interventions that will keep Covid-19 cases, hospitalisations and deaths at an acceptable level, and get us through the winter. What could this mean in practice? 1. The most important public health intervention to control Covid-19 is our vaccination programme. This has slowed down […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1115,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[296231,404],"tags":[274465],"class_list":["post-725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-coronavirus","category-health","tag-covid-19"],"yoast_head":"\n
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