Clinically Vulnerable Families 💙💜💗 Profile picture
UK Covid-19 Inquiry Core Participant | Safety | Health | Work | Education | Inclusion |⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ Donate: https://t.co/ljsO2XVStz⠀ ⠀ FB 📸cv_cev 🟦☁️@cvcev.bsky.social
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Oct 23 7 tweets 3 min read
CVF💙💜💗's Closing Statement

⚠️SAFE
- Schools must be made safe.

👩‍🏫SUPPORT
- Children must be given appropriate support to continue their education at home.

🛡️STATUS
- Clinical Vulnerability must be recognised as a distinct group in the Equality Act.

1/ @AdamWagner1 KC ⚠️SAFETY
"There is good evidence that many schools can be made safer for Clinically Vulnerable children and those in Clinically Vulnerable families."

Ventilation is uncontroversial!

2/
Oct 21 14 tweets 5 min read
🚨Boris Johnson - Children & Young People

Message to Gavin : 6/7/20
GW "need to push on the push compulsary attendance, and the message of normality"

AW "[You] encouraged him to continue the job.

Would you agree this was months before the vaccine...?"
BJ "Yes"
1/ @AdamWagner1 AW "Do you think in that race to return to normality [summer 2020] Clinically Vulnerable families may have been left behind?"

BJ "Getting back to school... would have been the best for all C&YP, CV or not."

2/
Oct 20 23 tweets 8 min read
🚨Whitty is on the stand today... follow this thread.

CTI "What about children who lived with parents who were still at risk...?"

Whitty "The risk to shielding adult... will be increased somewhat, but the risk to the child... scarring their life chances indefinitely."

1/ CW "Risk-benefit taking a child-centred approach, was to prioritise the needs of the children.

I don't think [there is] convincing evidence, that was with the benefits of hindsight, an incorrect judgement."

- Don't the needs of the children include not killing their parents?
2/
Oct 16 41 tweets 12 min read
🚨UKHSA - Dr Shona Aurara

The system of control in schools was not effective for an airborne virus.

CVF's questions from @AdamWagner1 KC

NB/ There was a HUGE amount of content - our amazing team are working on prioritising the best clips for you actively!

1/ Adam had to work hard today to try to hold UKSHA to account!

2/
Oct 16 14 tweets 5 min read
📢BORIS JOHNSON has been implicated by others as the major decision-maker when it came to schools.

CVF look forward to the opportunity for @AdamWagner1 KC to potentially cross-examine him next Tuesday!

1/ Secret plans were available to control risks in schools, but they weren't published... because they didn't want schools to have "an excuse not to open in September [2020]"

2/
Oct 8 8 tweets 3 min read
Professor Steve Turner, President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (@RCPCHtweets) @SteveTurnerABDN.

"children, mercifully, were spared from the harm of that came from Covid. Even my most sick patients .... it was their parents who were unwell...."

1/ Advice on shielded children.

"The College was pleased that the UK government adopted the College's advice on shielding for babies, children and young people. Recommending that most but not all C&YP did not need to shield."

2/
Oct 5 48 tweets 14 min read
🚨COVID INQUIRY ROUND UP (Wk1)

On Monday, the "Children and Young People’s Module" opened.

As CVF is designated as a 'Core Participant', we can make opening & closing statements and suggest questions.

See @AdamWagner1 KC's opening here.

1/
The first hearing started with "Impact videos," including Seren (18) from CVF.

Please do take a moment to listen to her experiences.

2/
Oct 2 38 tweets 14 min read
💙💜💗Yesterday was a BIG day for CVF at the UK Covid Inquiry.

After a year of work, @lara_wong’s full written statement (much longer than her oral evidence) is now public.

You can also watch her full oral evidence on YouTube.

Highlights below.

⚠️LONG thread warning 🧵

1/ What is Clinically Vulnerable?
No exception for shielded Clinically Vulnerable children when schools returned.

Full (~1 hour) YouTube evidence here:
youtube.com/watch?v=B_Bjbh…

Written evidence here:
covid19.public-inquiry.uk/documents/inq0…

Please help to BOOST this thread to your followers!

2/
Sep 30 13 tweets 4 min read
👪 As the UK Covid Inquiry began to focus on Children and Young people yesterday, CVF's barrister @AdamWagner1 KC stood to address the chair, Baroness Hallett, and shared our powerful opening submissions.

He started by sharing "David's" story (13).
1/ Then, Lana's story and the pressure she faced.

2/
Sep 23 4 tweets 2 min read
"Something as simple as breathing in shared indoor spaces has become a barrier to accessibility and inclusion for millions of people, and it's time to change that!" "Millions of people with chronic conditions are being put at risk or quietly excluded because clean indoor air has not been treated as a fundamental human right."

"If the act of breathing in a space puts someone at risk, access isn't equitable."
Sep 23 6 tweets 2 min read
Boston schools 👏👏👏

Leading the way since 2020. They invested in IAQ sensors in every classroom across the district. Their data was made publicly available, and they connected implemented demand controlled ventilation by linking sensors to the building management system.
Sep 15 14 tweets 5 min read
📢 Children and Young People Voices report about their pandemic experiences has been released today.

We would be interested in hearing your views. There is a chapter on Clinically Vulnerable families.

We have included screenshots below...

1/ They have recognised that children in CV families took on new caring responsibilities. Many have never been recognised or supported as "Young Carers".

2/ Weight of responsibility: Some children and young people took on responsibilities at  home during the pandemic. As well as carrying the load of practical tasks that needed to be done, such as looking after someone who was ill, taking care of siblings, or sanitising shopping for someone who was clinically vulnerable, some also felt the emotional weight of supporting their family through this time, particularly where people outside of the household could not come and help. Some were also affected by an awareness of the difficulties the adults were going through, including worsening mental hea...
Exposed to adult stress  Riley, aged 22, was living at home during the pandemic with their parents. This was a difficult time for the family because their mum was clinically vulnerable and their sibling, who had moved out, was struggling with an addiction. Living at such close quarters during lockdown - "like you're in a pressure cooker" - exposed them to the stress that their parents were going through and they described starting to share in this rather than feeling like a child any more. "Everyone felt very nervous. So then having that kind of like group worrying... I feel ...
Jun 11 26 tweets 8 min read
The final preliminary hearing for the Children & Young People’s module was today, CVF, again, made the case for safety.

Children's deaths *would* have been higher if many Clinically Vulnerable families had not kept their children away from schools.

⚠️Long thread
1/ 💔 88 children died (2020 - October 2022)

In the first year of the pandemic:

🏥6,338 paediatric Covid admissions
❤️‍🩹259 needed intensive care

2/
Mar 17 21 tweets 6 min read
Today @BBCMoreOrLess discussed pandemic impacts on Children & Young People:

"It turned out that they would be spared from the worst impacts of the disease."

The specific impacts on CV children, those in CV families or struggling with Long Covid were barely considered.

1/🧵 Dr Munroe dismissed risks to children:

"Covid itself had a relatively small clinical impact on young people."

In reality, CEV children were told to shield due to their risks. Over 200 children have died, and with a different response those deaths may have been preventable.
2/
Feb 25 11 tweets 3 min read
This 3yr anniversary that won't be in the news!

When the UK government rolled out the "Living with Covid" policy it simply scrapped protections and shifted to personal responsibility. For most, it meant "back to normal." For Clinically Vulnerable people, life became harder.
1/🧵 Image The plan was based on a single assumption: that vaccines alone would be enough... vaccines due to be withdrawn this Autumn.

But for millions who are Clinically Vulnerable, vaccines weren’t a magic bullet. Protection wasn’t universal and some were left with little to none.

2/
Feb 18 12 tweets 5 min read
😅CVF are relieved to announce that we will be representing you in the final section of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry looking at the 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘆.

It will consider the effects on keyworkers, vulnerable populations, bereaved, & mental health.

1/12 *Stick with this* Protective measures were often described as "restrictions" and the lifting of measures described as the return of "freedom".

2/
Jan 31 26 tweets 9 min read
🚨Clinically Vulnerable Families 💙💜💗

Our oral closing statement highlights 5 key concerns - however, further details will be explored in depth in our later written submissions.

1: Therapeutics programme - wasn't good enough!

1/ The immunosuppressed were left behind.

2/
Jan 29 5 tweets 2 min read
🚨Prof Sir Pirmohamed

"Would you support the development of a more diverse portfolio of vaccine formats and antivirals, both as part of future pandemic preparedness plans and during [.] 'peace time' to ensure that Clinically Vulnerable groups are adequately protected?"

1/ "Absolutely, I think it is really important to make sure that we have good therapeutics and vaccines for the whole population."

2/
Jan 23 6 tweets 2 min read
🚨JCVI - Wei Shen Lim🚨

Find out more about what led to his reaction below ⬇️

1/🧵 Do you agree that mRNA COVID-19 vaccine protection has been shown to wane after 5-6m?
WSL: Yes

Covid-19 has not transitioned into a seasonal virus like influenza?
WSL: Yes

If so, why did the JCVI not recommend more frequent vaccinations for all clinically vulnerable groups?

2/
Jan 21 23 tweets 8 min read
🚨Dame Kate Bingham🚨
Dubbed the "hero in a pink jacket 💕"

On Evusheld:
"I felt very strongly [.]. We were following a very clear 2 tier strategy where the CV immunocompromised were being deprioritised [.] I felt that was *manifestly* wrong both ethically and morally [.]"
1/🧵 The above video was taken out of sequence. The below should give more context...

KB "So actually, the first goal was around protecting the UK population."

CTI [Hugo Keith KC]
"Do you think you succeeded on securing or making available those monoclonal antibodies?"

KB "No!"
2/
Jan 17 21 tweets 6 min read
💥Clinically Vulnerable Families 💥

Yesterday, @lara_wong, took the stand as founder and leader of CVF.
**Sorry for the delay!**

- New risks posed by Covid-19
- We need to be recognised as an equality group.

1/ FOLLOW THIS THREAD Clinically Vulnerable people were, and are still, being let down.

2/