A new drug to protect the vulnerable against Covid has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of patients with weaker immune systems, but is yet to be funded by the Government.
Evusheld, made by AstraZeneca in the UK, is being used by millions in 32 countries around the world.
It offers advanced protection for people having cancer treatment, organ transplant recipients, primary immuno-deficiency patients and arthritis sufferers.
It is backed by 20 UK charities, and 120 of our leading clinicians.
Yet the Government is refusing to fund it at a cost of around £600-a-jab, the equivalent of £600million a year for two ‘jabs’.
Mirror organ donor campaigner Max Johnson has today made an impassioned plea to the Government to protect the vulnerable against Covid.
The brave schoolboy told how the virus could kill him and 500,000 like him when there is vital protection available which would save countless lives.
The immuno-compromised account for around 25 percent of the cases treated in intensive care.
Preventing them from getting seriously ill would save the NHS millions, according to campaigners, when staff are under intense pressure.
But the Department of Health said it would not be buying doses of the Evusheld injection without more evidence about its effectiveness against Omicron.
But campaigners point to countries where it is clearly working - and has been for months. AstraZeneca is selling Evusheld to the US, Austria, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong SAR, and China.
Hungary, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Korea, the Republic Of Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland UAE, and Vietnam have all given it the go ahead.
Max, of Winsford, Cheshire, said: “We don’t fully know how effective the normal Covid vaccine is, it is not guaranteed to protect me.
“But Evusheld does protect hundreds of thousands of people who, like me, have problems with their immune system.
“I want to do something for them. The worst case scenario for me without Evusheld is death.” He added: “It is stupid really that the country where this protection for the vulnerable was invented is not prepared to pay for it.
“Our government has abandoned the vulnerable. It shows how other countries care more about those less fortunate, unlike here in the UK.”
His worried dad Paul, 49, a civil servant, added: “I am so angry with this Government. How many more people are going to die before they do something about this?
“Instead they are locked in this outrageously self indulgent leadership contest while the country literally burns.
“People are losing their lives. Around 25 percent of the people in intensive care with Covid are immuno-compromised.
“This drug would take so much pressure off the NHS. It costs a damned sight more to keep those patients in intensive care than it would to protect them with Evusheld.
“It is the easy way out as it always is with this Government - it is easy to say this will save money, much harder to calculate how much would be saved by keeping people out of intensive care.”
Max’s mum Emma, 52, feels that the legacy of organ donors like Keira Ball - who saved the life of Max - are betrayed by the decision to withhold Evusheld.
“There are 3.6 immuno-compromised people dying from Covid every day,”
she said. “I will never forgive this Government if anything were to happen to Max.”
Emma, a mum-of-two, added: “We don’t know how Max would react to a different variant, so this would give us peace of mind.
“The refusal to fund it is an insult to organ donors. Keira has given the gift of life to Max.
“Max’s transplant, his Left Ventricular Assisted Device (LVAD), his treatment over months in hospital, the NHS did so much to save his life.
“But this Government is prepared to risk all that.
“It screams of inequality and discrimination.
“Other people have had the original Covid vaccine and boosters - so why not protect the vulnerable?
“Why not rush it through them when they did that for healthy individuals?
“They are prepared to risk the lives of the weakest in the population.” Paul admitted Covid was a game of ‘Russian roulette’ for Max and others like him. But he says Evusheld ‘knocks a few bullets out of the barrel’.
Now 14, and preparing to return to school to prepare for his GCSEs, Max told how he is ‘looking after’ Keira’s heart with a fitness regime - and by avoiding any crowds to reduce the risk of Covid.
He enjoys an active life outside of school, but has been unable to return to a normal life for fear of catching Covid 19.
“At school I have gone back to normal so really I am one of the lucky ones,” he said. “There are hundreds of thousands who have not been able to go back to a normal life.
“With me it is not as bad as with so many others, but I have got some of the problems they face.
“I have to make a judgement on what I can do. When I got Covid, I had an infusion which stopped it from getting very bad. But I go to bed restless and I would struggle with breathing sometimes, I would have to take my mind off it.
“I was out with my friends once and my heart started racing. It is like a long Covid. It happened with my dad too, you get breathlessness and it is a worry.
”Something as simple as running upstairs would wear me out. I would be on the floor and completely out of breath.
“I am back to normal now. But when I got Covid in January, the high blood pressure and breathlessness lasted for a good few weeks.”
Hungary, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Korea, the Republic Of Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland UAE, and Vietnam have all given it the go ahead.
Max added: “I want the Government to help the people who need it most. They make the vaccine at AstraZeneca, just down the road from where I live. We are sending it out to countries all over the world to save lives.
“Why can’t we do that here?”
