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National NHS guidelines on vaccinating elderly inpatients have not changed – more than six weeks after an investigation by Sky News revealed that many people in COVID-free wards were being denied the vaccine.
When 99-year-old Betty Hilless developed a leg infection in January, she didn’t want to go to the hospital. She was worried about catching COVID-19.
But her GP suggested it was her best chance to get a vaccine, so she agreed to be admitted.
Once at the hospital, their daughter Jan Maibaum was told that hospitalized patients were not being vaccinated.
Betty Hilless contracted coronavirus eight days after being denied a jab
She said: “I asked him if they gave him the vaccine and they said, ‘Oh no, we don’t do that.’
“Then I spoke to someone else. She went to check. And she came back and said, ‘Oh yeah, that’s the policy. I’m so sorry. It’s not a policy that we all necessarily agree with.’
Eight days later, Ms. Hilless tested positive for Coronavirus and then he died.
A vaccine may not have saved her life, but the fight for answers has left her grieving daughter angry.
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Sky News identified 13 hospitals in the UK where elderly patients who were not receiving COVID were being denied the coronavirus vaccine
She said: “I am very angry that my mother did not get the jab. Because if she had the jab in late December or early January, she would have had a lot of protection by the time she got into the hospital.
“It’s horrible, really horrible, I’m going to miss her so much.”
In January, Sky News identified 13 hospitals where families of vulnerable people do not COVID hospitalized patients stated that they were told they would not be vaccinated, despite being eligible.
Only one of the hospitals disputed this.
However, three of these NHS trusts have since confirmed that they are now offering the prick to hospitalized patients.
NHS England said: “Decisions about who to vaccinate and where are made locally between physician and physician and in accordance with JCVI guidance.”
Professor Anthony Harnden of the Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunizations told Sky News that progress had been made but the issue was complex.
He said: “At the time of vaccination, people should be fine, and people should also remember that the effects of vaccination do not kick in until two to three weeks later.
“Many of those people will have already been vaccinated due to the success of the immunization program that was implemented very quickly.”
