The Disabled And Covid

[Paigntonian]

May have got it wrong but I read that six out of every ten people who died from Covid were disabled. If that is the case should disabled people not be top of the list for vaccines?

[barry1010]

They are. I'm not over 70 but had the jab because I have been classed as extremely vulnerable due to clinical need like many disabled people.

[Paigntonian]

barry; News to me and jolly good.

[bobbinwales]

Remember 20% of adults are classed as disabled as its if you consider your self disabled so that affects the figures but only to a small degree. Some will be prioratised for jabs

[riptide]

Not necessarily disabled but were older and had underlying health problems.

[bobbinwales]

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/disability/articles/nearlyoneinfivepeoplehadsomeformofdisabilityinenglandandwales/2015-07-13

[Hopkirk]

The next phase is people with underlying health conditions

[lankeela]

I am a support worker for two lads with special needs in their mid thirties. One has Down Syndrome and associated health problems, and he was given priority for the jab. The other one is physically ok but is on the autism spectrum and he does not qualify yet. Staff have all received jabs to enable us to work with them.

[Zacs-Master]

You didn’t get it wrong, it has been claimed:
Covid: Disabled people account for six in 10 deaths in England last year - ONS https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56033813

https://www.health.org.uk/news-and-comment/news/6-out-of-10-people-who-have-died-from-covid-19-are-disabled

[Prudie]

I guess this is happening everywhere but was talking to a young girl at work (about 25) who had her jab a couple of weeks ago - because her mother is friends with the practice manager and as they'd had 14 no-shows it was offered to anyone who wanted to turn up there and then (rather than wasting it).

[woofgang]

while I don't dispute the statistics and I am emphatically NOT a conspiracy wonk. I do wonder who the Health Foundation members are? and where the money comes from.

[bobbinwales]

The vast majority of those dying are over 80
often in care home's and this older group is much more likeley to be dissabled. Disability isn't usually the main cause, its just a feature of being old and in a carehome.

[Zacs-Master]

Wellsaid, Bob.

[woofgang]

its quite a broad definition too even if you sieve out people who self describe. I am not saying that those people don't have genuine problems, what I mean is the sort of borderline problem that one person might feel disables them and another doesn't.....like chronic back pain for instance...once you have sorted that conundrum, there is the other issue of its being such a broad definition....some disabilities will have a clear probable link to being more likely to be seriously unwell with covid....eg COPD but eg tinnitus....also a disability....less clear. I suspect that's why the vaccination board who made the cohort decisions stuck to age, care homes and those people who had already been identified as clinically very vulnerable.

[Peter Pedant]

erm no
50% of those who died were men does that not mean that men should be top of the list

as usual - it is a stat that can guide - and yet not dictate.

[jno]

50% of those who died were men does that not mean that men should be top of the list

well it wouldn't. Assuming the other 50% are women it means they should be equal top of the list. As I expect they are.

[jno]

I suspect he meant to type 60% as in the OP, in which case that may be a good question.

[pixie374]

Nearer 67% are men- it's twice as many as women anyway.
The biggest risks seem to be diabetes, copd and heart problems, so it depends whether you see those as "disabilities". Age isn't a disability in itself.

[jno]

then it is a good question. If men are at so much greater risk - the specific reason shouldn't matter if being male itself is a disability - should they be prioritised? I don't know the answer to that.

[pixie374]

Not any more. Women could just identify as male and get it anyway (seriously).