Unvaccinated ‘most at risk’

UNVACCINATED patients are among the most seriously ill they see, say doctors, as the Omicron variant sparks a surge in cases.

Public Health Scotland data for last month showed rates of hospitalisation per 100,000 were 12 times higher among the unvaccinated than the triple-jabbed.

The number of patients with the virus rose from 524 on Christmas Eve to more than 1,300 now. Around 300,000 adults are unvaccinated.

Dr John Thomson, vice-president for Scotland at the Royal College of Emergency Medicine and consultant at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, told of two unvaccinated patients, both under 40, who had died.

He said: ‘They had been entirely well, until they became unwell with Covid.’