Jo Whiley: It couldn’t be crueller that my sister was offered vaccine while she battles for life
DISTRAUGHT Jo Whiley yesterday said it ‘couldn’t be crueller’ that her disabled sister was offered the vaccine after she was already fighting for her life with coronavirus.
The Radio 2 host, 55, said it has been ‘the worst week of our lives’ after her sister, Frances, 53, was taken to hospital following an outbreak at her care home.
Miss Whiley has previously questioned why she was offered the vaccine before her sister, who has the rare genetic syndrome Cri du Chat and diabetes.
She told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: ‘I have no idea why I was offered the vaccine and my sister wasn’t. It felt like the cruellest twist in the world because I’ve been asking for her, wanting for her to have her vaccine for a year, to be honest with you, to be protected.
‘Then, for me to suddenly get a call to say that I’ve got the vaccine, it just felt hideously unfair and she was actually called in for her vaccine last night.
‘My mum got a message to say that she could get vaccinated, but it’s too late, she’s fighting for her life in hospital. It couldn’t be crueller.’
She said it was particularly difficult to treat people with complex needs because they often do not understand what is going on and cannot communicate. Miss Whiley said Frances was so frightened that she would not allow medical staff to give her oxygen, adding: ‘When she was admitted to hospital she was so terrified that she actually rampaged through the hospital and people couldn’t contain her and security guards had to be involved, they had to restrain her.’
Edel Harris, chief executive of the learning disability charity Mencap, said: ‘People with a learning disability are six times more likely to die from Covid-19 than the rest of the population, yet those with a mild or moderate learning disability aren’t prioritised at all.’ She called on the Government to protect ‘some of society’s most vulnerable people’.
Asked about Miss Whiley’s sister on the show, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said later: ‘My heart goes out to Jo and to her sister and her whole family.’ He added it was ‘such a difficult situation’.
Miss Whiley added that her parents have not slept ‘for days’, but fortunately have been allowed to be with Frances at the hospital, believed to be in Northampton.
She said: ‘Twenty-four hours ago we didn’t have any hope at all, so she is an amazing fighter. I’m just hoping that her spirit gets her through.’