This week, the NHS added a further 1.7million people to the shielding list for COVID-19 and expanded the priority groups for the vaccine. The priority list has been based on several factors including age, BMI, medical conditions and ethnicity.
A risk prediction tool developed by the University of Oxford called ‘QCovid’ is the technology that has been used to identify the people that are the highest priority for the vaccine, and who should be shielding. Of the 1.7million people, around 820,000 are outside of the over-70 age group.
What is QCovid?
The tool developed by the University of Oxford is designed to pick up risk factors gathered from medical records to help determine whether people ‘may be more vulnerable than was previously understood’.
The people that are identified by the risk assessment are due to receive a letter from the NHS explaining that they are now included in the list of ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’ people. As a result, they will be invited to receive their first dose of the vaccine as soon as they possibly can.
Obesity and COVID-19
Obesity remains one of the biggest risk factors for COVID-19, and a large percentage of those now added to the vaccine priority list are classed as obese or have weight-related health problems.
Blog: COVID-19: Shielding the Obese
It has been widely reported that people with weight problems are more at risk of developing more severe symptoms of coronavirus. Therefore our advice would be that if you are offered the vaccine, take it!
Taking control of your weight has never been important, and a recent study by the Bariatric and Metabolic Institute found that patients who had bariatric surgery prior to getting COVID-19, compared to a group of obese patients, only 18% were hospitalised, whereas 42% of the obese patients were. Furthermore, none were transferred to ICU, whereas some obese patients were.
Doctors have attributed this to the fact that patients with a lower BMI as a result of their weight loss procedure were generally more healthy. There are so many health benefits of having weight loss surgery, including decreased risk of type II diabetes, lower blood pressure and, perhaps most significantly, a longer life expectancy!
If you’d like to get in touch to discuss your weight-loss options with our specialist team, you can call us on 0800 313 4618 or use the button below to book your free, no-obligation consultation that can be done from the comfort of your own home. There’s never been a more perfect time to discover a happier and healthier you!
Last review: 27/11/2020. All content on this page is reviewed by a multi-disciplinary team lead by Mr Rishi Singhal.