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Nurses go on social media to urge vaccine take-up as infection rates continue to rise

Nurses on Twitter share reasons for being vaccinated and encourage others to do same
Elizabeth Anionwu

Nurses on Twitter share reasons for being vaccinated and encourage others to do same

Pictured: Elizabeth Anionwu

Nurses have united on social media to encourage people to get their COVID-19 vaccinations as infection rates continue to rise.

On Saturday, government figures revealed that the cumulative total of people in the UK who died within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test had reached 150,000.

In response to the death toll, prime minister Boris Johnson said COVID-19 vaccines were ‘our way out of this pandemic’ and urged those who have not been vaccinated to get their jab.

Nurses took to Twitter to share why they had been vaccinated and encourage others to do the same.

One nurse said it is the ‘single most important thing I, we, can do to avoid being admitted to ICU or dying from COVID’.

Another said: ‘I am vaccinated and have had the booster and this winter's flu vaccine. I have done this to protect my family/friends, my colleagues and myself. I encourage everyone to get vaccinated.’

University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust deputy chief nurse Lynne Wyre encouraged everyone who is nervous about the vaccine to ‘walk into a vaccination centre and discuss’.

The social media pleas come as COVID-19 rates continue to rise alongside unprecedented staff absences.

Some 141,472 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded on 9 January, with the number of deaths within 28 days of a positive test rising to 1,295 in the past seven days, up 30.9% on the previous week.

COVID-related NHS staff absences in England topped 40,000 at the end of December, up 62% from 21 December. In response, the military has been drafted in to support London hospitals as they tackle staff absences.

Forty military medics were deployed to hospitals on 7 January alongside 160 general personnel to help with administrative tasks such as checking patients in. They are expected to be in place for three weeks.


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