‘I’ve had Covid, but I still need the booster’

Vicky Saynor, 45, from Hertfordshire, is clinically vulnerable and has made her appointment for the Covid booster and flu jabs

“I’m having my Covid booster jab next week. I’m on the ECV [extremely clinically vulnerable] list because I had lots of issues with my lungs during treatment for breast cancer. Throughout the first lockdown I was shielding; I had my first jab back in February and the second eight weeks later, but ironically I got Covid in July.

“It was the last week of term and my son came home from school with what we thought was a stinking summer cold, but then he said, ‘My taste is going odd.’ The next day I started to feel unwell, like I was coming down with the flu – and then I got a positive PCR test.

“My husband and I run our own business, Bethnal & Bec Luxury Retreats, and the first week of the summer holiday was busy for us, but we had to isolate. It was tricky to get people in to help and we couldn’t afford to close again. A lot of the people who’d booked had already rebooked from the previous year, so we couldn’t cancel their holidays.

“I was in bed for four days feeling under the weather. The loss of taste and smell was the most irritating thing because it lasted for a month.

“With having cancer, I don’t want to put myself at any risk of getting any illness. That’s why I’m having the Covid booster, and I have the flu jab every year too. It’s about protecting the vulnerable as well as yourself.”