Men, Women, Covid and Risk 'Take 2' by Les May

THE expert group advising the Government on Stage 2 of the vaccination programme which will is now being extended to people under the age of 50 have chosen to continue with the present procedure of offering injections to people based upon age. This is by far the simplest procedure as information about a patient’s age is included in the medical record held by their doctor.

It also takes account of the fact that even with these relatively younger individuals, age remains the major risk factor. What was however striking about the graphic presented during the briefing was that it showed the significantly heightened level of risk to men in the 45 to 49 age group compared with women of the same age. Men have about twice the risk of women.

I previously pointed to this higher level of risk for men compared with women in my NV piece of January 27th ‘Men, Women, Covid and Risk’, though the disparity has attracted little or no attention in the broadcast or print media. This is in sharp contrast to the uncritical attention given by news outlets to the higher level of risk which may be suffered by some ethnic groups.

Significantly the speaker highlighted the need to encourage men under 50 to come forward for vaccination, as well as people from non-white backgrounds. Attention is often focused upon the reasons why some individuals from non-white backgrounds exhibit some reluctance to receive the vaccine. Often this is couched in terms of lack of trust or past experiences.

It would be difficult to claim that the public face of the NHS prioritises men’s health issues. Much attention is paid to promoting screening for breast and cervical cancers. Is there similar promotion of health issues affecting men?

Such services are available, screening for colo-rectal cancers and thin aortas are two examples, but there seems little effort to promote them.

Will the print and broadcast media take a stance which encourages men to come forward? Will any perceived reluctance of men to take up the offer of vaccination be couched in terms of lack of trust or past experiences with the Health Service? I’m not holding my breath!

************************************************************