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Kate Garraway hits out at vaccine minister over confusing U-turn on asthmatics
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Good Morning Britain host Kate Garraway has slammed vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi MP for confused messages on asthmatics.
The presenter hit out at the minister after asthmatics were first told they were on the high priority list, only to be told later they were not at increased risk of death from the virus.
Kate, whose husband Derek Draper is currently in hospital battling complications due to coronavirus, spoke to Dr Amir Khan on Tuesday’s show with co-host Ben Shephard about government guidance, and took issue with the mixed messages.
Ben said: ‘Nadhim Zahawi was on Iain Dale’s show last night and he seemed to change the parameters of what is the allowable situation if you are suffering from asthma.
‘I think originally it was slightly different, if you had been hospitalised or had a continuous use of steroids to increase your asthma, you were in the top nine of seriously vulnerable categories.’
He added: ‘However last night he seemed to change that and suggested that if you use an inhaler you hit the list at number six.’
Dr Amir explained: ‘It is confusing, and asthma certainly throughout this pandemic has been the long term condition that people are really worried about.’
He went on to say: ‘There is a link that people with asthma may get Covid more readily, and there is a link with long Covid and asthma.’
Kate then went on to hit out at the minister, saying: ‘How unhelpful is it when you are having people come into your surgery, asking you questions, when the vaccine minister… when he says something that seems to be different from that?’
‘What he’s said is, people using inhalers will be in a prioritised category, and not what you described? That must make things hard for you.’
Dr Amir replied: ‘It does, it results in a surge of phone calls with people asking what they should be doing, and there might be people who might be sick and can’t get through on the phone because people are asking questions. We do need clarity when it comes to this.’
Ben added at the end of the interview said: ‘Just to be clear, we think [Mr Zahawi] got that wrong, and actually it’s as [Dr Amir] described it.’
Meanwhile, presenter Kate has been open about her husband Derek’s condition as he continues to fight coronavirus complications in hospital.
Derek, 53, was admitted to intensive care in March last year and his battle is thought to be the one of the longest in the UK. Kate recently said his fight is ‘far from over’.
Good Morning Britain airs on weekdays at 6pm on ITV
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