Ministers MUST do the right thing and fund Evusheld

FEW people will fail to remember those difficult early months of the Covid pandemic – the sense of trepidation and how life, for us all, changed beyond recognition. And then came hope: the vaccines freed us from lockdown and have been instrumental in allowing us to live with this virus.

For some, however, a return to normality is still out of reach.

Due to very serious health problems, there are hundreds of thousands of Britons who the jabs can’t help. And this is why Evusheld is so important.

Earlier this year, data began to come through that showed the treatment could give this most vulnerable group their freedom back. It cuts the risk of catching Covid by 80 per cent and the risk of hospitalisation or death by 50 per cent.

At that point, along with doctors and charities, I began to talk to Ministers about when we would make it available on the NHS. I did not expect it to happen overnight, but while patients in France, America and dozens of other countries are now benefiting from it, we’ve lagged behind. We are failing those who need our help the most.

I have become disappointed by officials who are, in my view, being over-cautious. They worry the drug may not be effective against Covid variants. Yet the real-world evidence is clear. Countries that have rolled out Evusheld have reported no problems.

Not a single doctor I have spoken to believes that there is any merit to further delay or deliberation – in fact, quite the opposite.

In saying too few patients have been studied in trials, health chiefs are setting the bar far higher for Evusheld than they did for the vaccines.

Yes, we have moved beyond a pandemic phase where the Government is willing to do whatever it takes and pay whatever is required, but denying patients Evusheld, when we know it could save lives, makes little sense.

With a hard winter approaching for the NHS, the Government must purchase stocks of this drug – at least for those most severely in need. Its maker AstraZeneca has supply available. Now it is up to the Government to do the right thing.