The British government’s more than two-year refusal to consistently implement basic public health measures against Covid-19, as well as its 2022 policy of ‘living with Covid,’ continues to result in deaths, disability and an unfolding disaster in the NHS, as the long-term effects of coronavirus disease make themselves felt. Covid-19 deaths now exceed 206,000 people in the UK. With the fourth wave of the disease this year now underway, and the number of people admitted to hospital who test positive for Covid-19 now rising in every English region, this figure will increase. The working class, disabled people and ethnic minorities are paying the price for the Tory and Labour parties putting capitalist profits ahead of public health.
Profits before children
Whilst 206 children in the UK have died from Covid-19 since 2020, only 52% of 12-15 year olds and 11% of 5-11 year olds have been vaccinated. In comparison there was only one death from measles, and none from rubella or mumps in 2019, all diseases against which British children are vaccinated. In September 2022, the British government removed parental choice to vaccinate children in England who turn five from 1 September. These children will now not be eligible until they reach secondary school, as the offer of such vaccination made in April 2022 was a ‘one-off, non-urgent programme’. The government claims this is because ‘delivery of non-Covid-19 paediatric immunisation programmes had fallen behind during the pandemic … increasing health inequalities’.
Child immunisation programmes (mostly administered before the age of five), have indeed fallen behind, but this is a reason to increase vaccination rates, not to reduce them. For a government preparing for a sixth wave of Covid-19 infections this winter by announcing another round of boosters, this is another callous decision, indicative of the war against the working class. It is based on the pseudo-scientific belief that children are not affected by Covid-19 and can only feed the anti-vaxxer movement. Only the over 50s, health care and care home workers, immune-suppressed and their contacts, carers and pregnant women are eligible for a booster this autumn. Covid-19 is one of the leading causes of child deaths in the UK.
Excess deaths
There were over 600 excess deaths per week in England and Wales by 2 September 2022, half caused by Covid-19. Excess deaths are at 8-10% above the five-year average. Covid-19 remains one of the leading causes of death in 2022 in both England (3.8% of all deaths) and Wales (4%). The enormous pressure the NHS has been under has resulted in a waiting list of 6.8 million people in England alone waiting for routine hospital treatment. 10% of adults have been forced into the private sector; almost two-thirds (63%) did so because they faced long delays or could not access treatment on the NHS.
Long Covid
It has been known since 2020 that some people who caught Covid-19 had symptoms that persisted for more than four weeks after the initial infection, with the most common being fatigue, cognitive problems, shortness of breath, loss of smell/taste and muscle aches. Even those with an initial mild infection later developed these lingering symptoms that have now persisted in some cases for two years. Globally, 3.92 billion people are estimated by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation to have been infected by SARS-CoV-2 by the end of 2021, and 3.7% (144.7 million people) developed Long Covid which persisted for four weeks or more, 15% of these for over 12 months. Other estimates suggest 10-30% of those infected will develop Long Covid.
It is now clear that Long Covid has left millions of people susceptible to a huge range of other lifelong, life-threatening conditions. According to the WHO, the disability caused by Long Covid is ‘equivalent to severe neck pain, Crohn’s disease and the long-term consequences from traumatic brain injury’ (Janet Diaz, 17 August 2022). A 2022 study published in eClinicalMedicine showed a lasting mental impact of a case of severe Covid-19 on the brain, equivalent to 20 years of ageing. Another 2022 study in Nature showed ‘significant effects of Covid-19 primarily relating to grey matter loss in cortical areas’, including following a mild infection. There is an increased risk of cardiovascular disease for at least a year after a Covid-19 infection. People who had Covid-19 exhibit increased risk and burden of diabetes, stroke and dementia. Over-65s infected with Covid-19 show a 50-80% higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease within a year. In Britain, in the 40-64 age group, heart attack deaths increased 15% in 2021 compared with 2019. Getting re-infected several times increases the risk of Long Covid and hence of these life-threatening conditions.
According to the Office for National Statistics, one in 20 people in the UK who are economically inactive are suffering from Long Covid, the figure more than doubling in the past year. One in 29 people who are unemployed but seeking work have Long Covid, and one in 30 employed people have Long Covid.
Post-infection disease following viral or bacterial infection is not new and was also seen with the first SARS-CoV-1 outbreak after 2003, as well as with other viral infections. The burden of Long Covid and its long-term consequences emphasises the criminal negligence of the British government in particular in deliberately allowing the virus to spread, either to ‘protect the economy’ or in support of pseudoscientific ideas around ‘natural immunity’, ‘herd immunity’ or ‘mildness’ of what has turned out to be one of the most dangerous pathogens known to humanity.
Charles Chinweizu
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 290 October/November 2022
