This is what we need to do about Covid this winter

My current focus is on how we transition from the pandemic to the endemic stage of the disease, writes John McGinley

Global attitudes towards Covid-19 and how best to protect vulnerable people are constantly evolving (Reuters)

Earlier this month, on 8 December, we marked the two-year anniversary of the start of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout and were reminded of how far we have come. Globally, there have been over 642 million cases of Covid and – tragically – more than six million deaths since the outbreak began. We are now seeing a surge of cases in China.

Nearly 13 billion vaccine doses have been administered, with a study in The Lancet suggesting that these prevented close to 20 million deaths in the first year alone. However, global attitudes towards the virus and how best to protect vulnerable people are constantly evolving.

In the UK, we are experiencing our first winter since 2019 without Covid restrictions in place. Whilst Covid cases did decrease in November, we must not get complacent. We are in the middle of flu season, and natural immunity is thought to be lower due to coronavirus restrictions in previous years.