Covid-19: East London ICU doctor says vast majority of intensive care patients are unvaccinated

An ICU doctor has said the vast majority of Covid-19 patients she treats in intensive care are unvaccinated and have no underlying health conditions.

The number of people in intensive care units has crept up in recent weeks, as coronavirus cases continue to rise across the UK.

Dr Colette Coyle, a locum consultant at Barts Health, in east London, said that she has seen the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care rise sharply.

And she revealed that most are unvaccinated and with no underlying health conditions.

She added that many of the new patients were younger than those admitted to ICU at the peak of the UK’s Covid cases at the start of this year – many in their 40s and 50s.

Dr Coyle, who works at the Royal London Hospital, in Tower Hamlets, and Newham Hospital, said that the number of patients in ICU at the Royal London was around 50 to 55 beds.

While not as high as the 160 critical care beds used for Covid patients at the height of the pandemic, the number of patients needing intensive care in recent weeks has increased.

Dr Coyle said: “Somewhere in the region of 90% of the Covid patients that are needing critical care have not been vaccinated.

“Of the very small percentage that have been vaccinated, they usually have very severe underlying health conditions that affect their immunity and their ability to mount an immune response.

“And I’d say that patients were slightly younger now than they were in the first place – we are seeing a lot of patients in their 40s and 50s who may have no underlying health conditions but have not been vaccinated.”

Dr Coyle added that disinformation about the coronavirus vaccine had stopped many patients now in intensive care from receiving the vaccine, and that she hoped the experience of being treated for a serious case of Covid would encourage them to get the jab.

She said: “We’re very sorry for these patients – vaccinated or unvaccinated.

“There’s been a lot of misinformation and people not accessing the right information and it’s caused a lot of fear in the local community.

“There’s been a lot of information about the vaccine that’s not true and it’s just trying to help provide them with the right information so they can make the right choice for them really.

With 67.9% of the UK’s population fully vaccinated, many are concerned that the winter months will see a spike in Covid cases and even more people needing intensive care treatment.

As of October 27, over a million people in London have tested positive for coronavirus – 26,000 new cases were in the previous week.

Flu jabs will be crucial to ease the pressure on the NHS, according to Dr Coyle.

She said: “I’m very concerned actually, I think the numbers are creeping up slowly and I think they will continue to do so.

“I think we also have the other pressures of winter like normal pneumonia and flu… and things like that which we perhaps didn’t have last year which will undoubtedly put more pressure on the NHS and on the services that intensive care needs to provide.”

Dr Coyle added that: “As well as the Covid vaccine, anyone who’s eligible for a flu vaccine should put themselves forward to get that to start protecting themselves and protecting the NHS.”