Covid: Fifth of England hospital admissions aged 18-34

One-in-five people currently in hospital in England with Covid are aged between 18 and 34, the new chief executive of NHS England has said.

In her first major interview, Amanda Pritchard told the BBC that about 1,000 young adults were currently “really unwell” in hospital.

She said it was “so important” people came forward to get vaccinated.

She added the level of young adults being admitted to hospital was four times higher than the peak last winter.

About 5.5% of young adults were in hospital during the winter surge.

NHS sources said the latest figures on hospital admissions reflected the success of the vaccination programme in protecting older age groups.

Ms Pritchard said: “It shows how effective the vaccine programme has been in protecting people, stopping them needing hospitalisation, keeping them safe.”

“NHS teams are putting on pop-up clinics and walk-in centres in
addition to around 1,600 permanent sites, to make it as easy as possible to protect yourself, your family and your friends.”

She warned that young people who have not been jabbed could become seriously ill, adding, they “are not immune and the best way they can protect themselves absolutely is to get that vaccine if they haven’t already”.

Last week, about 250,000 18-30 year-olds had the first or second dose of Covid vaccine, which was “incredibly encouraging”, said Ms Pritchard.

“It is still really important for those young people who have not yet taken the opportunity to come forward – or they know someone who hasn’t – this is the time,” she told the BBC’s health editor Hugh Pym.

She said although hospital admissions have flattened out over the last few days and there was grounds for “cautious optimism”, the NHS was still experiencing “real pressure”.

Ms Pritchard, who was previously NHS England’s chief operating officer, took over as chief executive from Sir Simon Stevens on 1 August.

In a statement issued by NHS England, she added: “NHS teams are putting on pop-up clinics and walk-in centres in addition to around 1,600 permanent sites, to make it as easy as possible to protect yourself, your family and your friends.”

Last month, there were suggestions that vaccines could become compulsory for university students moving to halls of residence, but ministers later abandoned the idea.

About 73% of adults in the UK have now received two doses of a Covid vacination, and nearly 89% have had a first dose.

On Wednesday, ministers in the UK’s nations all said they would offer Covid jabs to all 16 and 17 year olds following advice from experts on the Joint Committee on Vaccine and Immunisation.

It comes as a further 29,312 cases of people testing positive for coronavirus were recorded in the UK on Wednesday and 119 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.