A heartfelt plea from a Covid patient in Essex hospital bed

That is the plea from Jackie Hewitt-Main OBE, who is currently on the Rochford Ward in Southend Hospital after catching the virus before Christmas.

She has seen at first hand what the situation on a Covid ward is like, with an average of more than 2,000 patients being admitted a day across the UK.

Although unvaccinated herself due to underlying health conditions, she said she could not believe how many young men are in her ward.

“I’ve seen so much in these last two weeks, and one thing that’s clear is that people don’t understand what’s happening,” she said.

“There are all these young men, including rugby players, builders, boxers, who can’t move out of the hospital bed. It’s crazy. 

“There are unvaccinated, young, fit, men everywhere and I just wish people could see it. They haven’t had the booster because they believe they are young, yet these beds are full of them.

“When I came into the hospital the first thing the nurses asked was ‘Did you have the booster, or any vaccinations?’ and they all come back with ‘I’m fit, I’m young’, but you can see the pain in the nurses just wishing people stop using that excuse.”

Jackie Hewitt-Main - Weeks prior to catching Covid.

Jackie is the founder of the charity The Cascade Foundation. She tested positive for the virus on December 13 and her message is that if anyone can take it, they should take it.

“Some nights I really didn’t think I’d make it,” she told the Gazette.

“I haven’t had the vaccine as I have a underlying health condition. At the time everyone was having it and having boosters, I was crying because I felt hopeless as nobody knew whether I could take it.

“I still don’t know now whether I could have done things differently, but from what I’ve seen now, please get the vaccination if you can, no matter your age. You never know what Covid will do to you - and everyone here that didn’t take it, but could have, wishes that they had.”