Should we be clinically assessing antibody responses to covid vaccines in immunocompromised people?

The UK government has decreed that we must all now “live with covid.” All mandated isolation measures have ceased in England, free lateral flow testing for all has come to an end, and plans are in motion to scale back the surveillance programmes that have been instrumental in predicting covid waves, new variants, and vaccine efficacy. Notably absent from this bold strategy is practical guidance for the protection and mitigation of ongoing risk for people who were previously deemed to be clinically extremely vulnerable. This has left the 500 000 immunocompromised people in the UK, who have not been afforded the same level of protection from vaccination as the general population, feeling dispensable. In response to this abandonment, UK health charities have called on the government to give more support to those at highest risk from covid-19 so that they can live more normal lives.

Author list

 

Michelle Willicombe, senior clinical lecturer and transplant nephrology lead,  

Miranda Scanlon,, transplant recipient and lay advisory group lead,  

Fiona Loud, transplant recipient and policy director,  

Liz Lightstone, professor of renal medicine and honorary consultant physician

Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2

10.1136/bmj.o966

BMJ