Covid shielders, who have been self-isolating against the virus for nearly two years, say they feel “abandoned” by the government.
ONS figures from late last year suggest around 800,000 of the 3.7 million people categorised as clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) are continuing to shield despite diminishing support.
Retired project manager Jan has five autoimmune diseases, including rare blood clotting disorder antiphospholipid syndrome, as well as bronchiectasis and asthma.
She claims she was told by a consultant there was a high chance of hospitalisation and death if she caught the virus.
Due to her conditions, Jan suffered adverse effects from two Covid vaccines and will not be able to have boosters.
The 70-year-old grandmother, from Whitby, north Yorkshire, was desperately holding out hope for antivirals or monoclonal antibody infusion therapy - if she were to get infected - but has now been told she does not qualify.
She has spent the pandemic almost entirely alone in her house and has regularly phoned Samaritans and other counselling services.
Are you clinically extremely vulnerable and continuing to isolate? Let us know at webnews@mirror.co.uk
With her mental health deteriorating and feeling “really desperate” she did take a risk amid the Omicron surge on Christmas Day and went inside her daughter and 11-year-old granddaughter's home for the first time after they all did tests.
“When I found out I don’t qualify for the antivirals I thought, how can I live my life like this?” Jan told the Mirror.
“This is no life, two years in the house on my own with no hope for anything changing and being told all the time to ‘just live with it’. It’s not a case of living with it for us, we are the collateral damage. I feel absolutely abandoned.”
The shielding programme officially ended in England on September 15, 2021, meaning those categorised as CEV were no longer advised to isolate.
However, people with such severe vulnerabilities as Jan are in “limbo” and in many cases can't get antibody tests to check if they have any protection.
“With me, if I get Covid, the likelihood is, that’s the end,” she said.
“I have low neutrophils which makes it easy for me to pick up infections and hard to recover from them. My condition hasn’t changed, my risk hasn’t changed.”
She said: “I think they need to expand the criteria for the new antiviral treatments and actually address the fact that there’s quite a considerable number of people who have fallen through the net.”
Jan added that CEVs are "desperately trying to get access to other options and means of protection" but advice and information remains "inconsistent".
Fellow shielder Joanna said the warning letters sent throughout the pandemic “still play havoc with your anxiety”.
“I feel very much as though we’ve been dumped. Boris has got his agenda and I don’t think it’s ever been about protecting the vulnerable,” she continued.
The former supply teacher, 64, from Shotley Bridge, County Durham, has severe asthma and is immunosuppressed.
The mum-of-two was initially furloughed but the agency she was signed to eventually terminated her employment.
For a year she was able to claim £74-a-week on ESA, but is now surviving on money she put aside for her retirement, with the shielder food parcels having also stopped.
Joanna - who is eligible to have a fourth vaccination - also sold the farmhouse she spent much of the pandemic alone in and downsized but says she has a “feeling the money will run out" before the pandemic ends.
“The economy is always going to be more important to a government like we’ve got now than people,” she continued, adding: “I have got no choice but to plod through. What else can I do?”
Diane, meanwhile, has severe allergies, chemical sensitivities and autoimmune conditions, as well as severe chronic fatigue syndrome and Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).
She said having the vaccine could result in a relapse of some of her autoimmune conditions and anaphylactic shock.
She explained: “To have a vaccine I’d have to be admitted to a resuscitation ward with a defibrillator on hand and I just can’t take that massive risk.
“This is my only option, there is no other option but to totally shield.”
Diane, 63, from Merseyside, said the only visitor she’s had for two years is a gas safety engineer.
“Chris Whitty [chief medical officer] made it clear - nobody would be left out. People that couldn’t have the vaccines would have options, but there are no options. Nobody wants to know, there’s nothing,” she said.
Diane, who described herself as very sociable before the pandemic, admits the loneliness of isolation has been difficult.
Along with Jan and Joanna, she is a member of Facebook group Shielders United UK, which all three said has helped keep them going.
However, they were rocked in the run up to Christmas when they learned one member had taken her own life.
Diane said: “It really touched me. I’ve had dark thoughts at times as we go into winter, when you haven’t seen a human being. That is the worst punishment you can inflict on anyone.”
A Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "We have issued public health advice for people whose immune system means they are at higher risk of serious outcomes from Covid-19. This advice remains in place.
"Those previously considered clinically extremely vulnerable are advised to follow the same guidance as the general public, but consider taking extra precautions to reduce their chance of catching Covid-19.
"Vaccines are the best way we can protect ourselves from the virus and we continue to urge everyone who can to Get Boosted Now."
They went on to say, the government continues to monitor Omicron and other variants in an effort to best protect the most vulnerable, with those severely immunosuppressed eligible for third and fourth vaccine doses.
They added the NHS is also now offering new antibody and antiviral treatments to those at the highest risk, while one million people are being sent PCR home test kits.
Click here for the government's latest guidance for CEVs or here for information on new antibody and antiviral treatments.
For guidance on Statutory Sick Pay, see here.
