Thread by @fearnley_k

1/ Important thread.

Why UK government failure to acknowledge & invest in #LongCovid will have irreparable health & economic consequences. 🧵

@Conservatives @UKLabour @LibDems @LSHTM @markjit @AnnaVassall

2/ In April 2021, #LongCovidKids hand delivered letters to Prime Minister, @BorisJohnson, requesting investment & treatment for #LongCovid.

3/ Yesterday, #LongCovidKids received this shameful #gaslighting response.

https://twitter.com/binitakane/status/1532085251811442688

4/Despite evidence of multi-organ damage, & once active, healthy children now having to use wheelchairs, & growing evidence of #viralpersistence #autoimmunity #endotheliitis & abnormal clotting within the medical literature, UK government decided to #gaslight unwell children

5/ This government, and all those who attempt to psychologise and minimise #LongCovid harms, are beneath contempt.

It is one thing to #medicallygaslight an adult. Its another to #gaslight a vulnerable, sick child. History will not look kindly upon you

@sajidjavid you recently spoke on the inappropriate psychologisation of #ME & need for research - thank you.

You may or may not be aware that a significant portion (50-70%) of those with #LongCovid fit diagnostic criteria for #ME.

https://twitter.com/actionforme/status/1529475923501670402

I ask you, @sajidjavid, what do you think of your cabinets response to #LongCovidKids?

Do you not think children with #longcovid are worthy of proper treatment?

Do you think your relative needs mental health services or biomedical research?

8/ Attempts are clearly being made by UK government to psychologise a v serious, organic medical condition.

This cannot be allowed to happen. Denial of #LongCovid will have both serious health and economic consequences. @CMO_England @Thomas_Waite

9/ Each wave of infection adds to the growing health and economic burden of #LongCovid & #ME. Both of which are currently absent of treatment or cure.

10/ One in four employers in the UK recently sited #LongCovid as the main reason for long-term absence at work. reuters.com/world/the-grea…

11/ The economic cost of #LongCovid to the UK will - with ease - run into **multiple Billions** of pounds.

Moral argument aside, there is a financial argument to aggressively fund research.@RishiSunak @economics_ma @MoodysAnalytics @Reuters @LSHTM @markjit @AnnaVassall

#ME cost the UK economy at least £3.3 billion in 2014/15

The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) estimated the prevalence of #ME to be ‘at least’ 0.2-0.4% of the UK population, implying up to 1 in 250 people affected, or 260k in total theoptimumhealthclinic.com/wp-content/upl…

Current ONS figures estimate UK Prevalence of #LongCovid to be 2M and counting = x8 number of #ME sufferers in the UK.

It is not unreasonable to assume similar healthcare and social burden between ME and Long Covid. On that basis:

£3.3bn x 8 = £26.BN econ cost of #LongCovid in the UK ANNUALLY. 

@sajidjavid @LaylaMoran @RishiSunak @Conservatives @Keir_Starmer @Ianblackford_MP @UKLabour @LibDems @Reuters @economics_ma @economics_ma @Reuters @LSHTM @markjit @AnnaVassall let that sink in.

And this is a conservative estimate, which does not account for increased prevalence of #ME since early 2000s or cost of inflation.

This article warns of the increased prevalence of #ME in America due to #COVID19 and associated economic consequences.
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…

“Prior to the COVID pandemic, we estimated a United States ME/CFS prevalence of 1.5 million and an annual economic impact of $36–51 billion. Now, due to COVID and its resulting post-acute sequalae, we estimate total ME/CFS prevalence could rise to between five and nine million..

.. This would incur an annual U.S. economic impact of $149 to $362 billion in medical expenses and lost income, exclusive of other costs, such as disability benefits, social services, and lost wages of caretakers.” @RishiSunak @economics_ma @Reuters @LSHTM @markjit @AnnaVassall

The economic cost of #LongCovid to the UK is expected to be £26.8BN

This figure puts the £50M so far invested by UK government into #LongCovid research into perspective, doesn’t it?

20/ Moreover, a few of us can predict the long term harms of this virus: in the near future we are likely to see a wave of neurodegenerative disease, Alzheimer’s & cancer.

Pls listen to @drsoonshiong speak from 2:50:

21/ There is growing evidence of #viralpersistence within the published literature.

The UK must invest in meaningful research, starting with serious investment into how to clear #SARSCoV2 from our bodies. @NIHR @NIHR @NIHDirector @CMO_England @Thomas_Waite

50M is pocket change when the economic cost of #LongCovid is predicted to be *26BN* per annum.

Failure to aggressively invest in meaningful research and we will see the inevitable long-term health and economic consequences of Long Covid for decades to come.

End.

Edit *@DrPatSoonShiong