Thread by @ArboretumNeon

When will the clinically vulnerable stop being collateral damage, @RishiSunak? When will the #Forgotten500k get the same chance to survive this as everyone else? I need #Evusheld to safely access healthcare and daily life again.
@DHSCgovuk
@SteveBarclay
@andreajenkyns

(1/7) I've lost so much of myself to shielding. My life has ground to a halt, I'm socially isolated, and the constant trauma of knowing that people have decided that my life is worth less than the inconvenience of wearing a mask, including doctors, is utterly draining.

(2/7) I've had to withdraw from the Uni course that I worked through horrendous illness for years to get onto, because they no longer support remote learning, and treated my reluctance to risk serious illness as anxiety to be 'gotten over'. The stress made me physically ill.

(3/7) I've lost contact with most of my friends. A lot of people are reluctant to talk to me. I never know what to say anymore. Nothing changes, unless it's for the worse.

(4/7)Gambling my health isn't something I can do. I already have neuroimmunological disorders like ME/CFS and POTS, as well as being immunosuppressed, and my body doesn't have the resources to fight something like COVID. I've seen what worse looks like for me. I can't risk that.

(5/7) It doesn't just impact me though. I live with my mum (my fulltime carer) who also helps my nan who lives nearby to do shopping and get to appointments. She constantly carries the stress of keeping us safe, and it's making both of us ill. I feel so guilty about it.

(6/7)People aren't meant to live like this. I'm 20, and I have no hope for the future. Why do I have to live feeling as though making it through the next month isn't a given, or as though every hospital appointment could kill me? Why do we have to be trapped like this to survive?

I've heard people say 'You need to stop worrying! Go out and live your life!' but living your life has the unfortunate requirement of being alive. And the only way to do that right now is a living hell. We need #Evusheld. We need to be treated like people who deserve to live.