The forgotten 500,000: why is the UK government blocking Evusheld?

While most of society returned to normal after the pandemic, there are still half a million immunocompromised people in the UK who are trapped in their homes. Many are still shielding, still in isolation. Still unable to work, see friends or hug loved ones.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Fortunately there is a treatment called Evusheld which can protect the immunocompromised against the threat of covid. It’s a treatment developed and manufactured in the UK, and approved in 32 countries.

Evusheld could offer freedom to the half a million immunocompromised Brits who can’t leave their homes – but, for some reason, the UK government won’t authorise its use.

Join us for a special ThinkIn where we try to understand why Evusheld is being blocked in the same country that makes it, and the impact this decision is having on the people who just want their lives back.

Editor:
James Harding
Editor and Co-founder

Invited guests:
Daisy Cooper
MP

Dr Lennard Lee
Academic Clinical Lecturer in Medical Oncology at the University of Oxford

Helen Rowntree
Director of Research, Blood Cancer UK

Lord Mendelsohn

Mark Oakley
Evusheld for the UK

Thursday 20 October

[joanshellien]

Brilliant session. Let's all keep up the good work.

[moomyj]

A brilliant session, thank you all so much. It’s surely a no-brainer to anyone not to be able to prescribe this dug combination on the NHS!

[dianejohnson]

Excellent discussion and every point succinctly put. One other point I haven’t heard yet, is what happens when an extremely vulnerable person is unlucky enough to catch Covid. Christmas last, both my husband, being extremely vulnerable with blood cancer, and myself, immunosuppressed, caught covid but were delighted to have been treated with antivirals and antibodies. However, despite seemingly recovering from covid we are still suffering a form of long covid and knock on effects ten months later and needing further treatments. Isn’t it better to have had treatment highly effective in protecting the vulnerable from catching covid in the first place. This is plainly a false economy.

Unsurprisingly, we are both severely depressed having had to resign from our normal lives, including specifically holidays abroad. How would we ever obtain the antivirals or antibodies in that scenario if we caught covid away from home. For once I envy US citizens their health system which enables travel because of Evushield. A point well made during the discussion.

It seems the vulnerable are being discriminated against by the Government and surely we could use this argument in a Court of Law. The extremely vulnerable have enough to worry about without this added to the list.