THOUSANDS CONTINUED TO SHIELD DESPITE NO LONGER NEEDING TO, DATA SHOWS
Half of the clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) people in England continued to shield despite Government advice that they no longer needed to, new figures show.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that 50% of CEV people said they were continuing to shield when asked between April 26 and May 1.
But an ONS analysis, published on Friday, found that 84% of CEV people reported being aware that Government advice to shield had been paused and that two-thirds (67%) had received two doses of coronavirus vaccine.
Tim Gibbs, head of the public services analysis team at the ONS, said: “Since April 1 2021, clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) people have been advised that they no longer need to shield to protect themselves from Covid-19.
“Our results today show that although Government advice to shield has paused, half of those identified as CEV reported continuing to shield. We’ve recently seen lockdown restrictions ease significantly, this is great to see, however, it’s critical that we continue to monitor the impact of these changes on groups such as the clinically extremely vulnerable.”
