Vulnerable citizens have a very simple request for the government – we also don’t expect them to listen

Is there someone, anyone, who has the ear of Boris Johnson or Sajid Javid and is of sufficient standing to explain the glaring hole in their Plan B, or whatever they’re calling it these days?

You may remember that before most of the Covid restrictions were dropped in England – the devolved administrations have handled things with a more cautious and considerably surer hand – a substantial number of people were being advised to shield from others. There were initially 2.2 million people dubbed “clinically extremely vulnerable”, including my immunocompromised wife. The category was later extended, bringing the number to 3.8 million. I found myself among the second group thanks to type 1 autoimmune diabetes.

Now, being a shielder wasn’t a lot of fun. Humans are social animals and being told to stay in a secret lockdown was wearing enough in a family setting. I shudder to think what it was like for people living alone. But with a killer virus in the air, the vast majority of clinically vulnerable people who were aware of the shielding advice followed it either completely or very closely, per a government survey in January. And some, nearly a quarter of those surveyed, went further, not leaving their homes for any reason at all.

To assist with following the advice, shielders enjoyed some important legal protections. These helped people unable to work from home to stay home without getting thumped by their employers. You could also more easily obtain supermarket deliveries to shield you from the risk of going to the shops.

“The situation is now very different to when shielding was first introduced at the start of the pandemic,” the government said when it scrapped the guidance in November. “The vaccine continues to be successfully rolled out, and other treatments and interventions are becoming available.”

OK, fine, things did look better at that point. They look a good deal less cheerful with omicron having come along. This little variant said: “Those fine plans for living with me and my greek letter pals that you had, let’s talk about them shall we? PS start thinking about Plan C coz I’m going to muck you up. D maybe? Have you lot even got a clue? You haven’t have you. This is fun for me.”

This is why I argued for the shielding policy to be held in reserve rather than torn up as it was.

So far, we have masks back (good) and a tepid work from home order in place, which some employers have opted to ignore. Omicron, meanwhile, has claimed its first death and is spreading like wildfire. The government has also said get your booster, get your booster, get your booster. And people should. They already are. They’ve even been queuing.

The problem for the clinically extremely vulnerable can be expressed via a simple question: how good will this be for us? Is the protection of the vaccine plus booster as good as what just the vaccine was providing against delta? Of particular concern to anyone with a smidgeon of humanity ought to be those with compromised immune systems, who are supposed to have had three primary doses to get what everyone else gets from two, and therefore require a booster on top of that.

My wife had to fight like Muhammed Ali in his Joe Frazier-biffing prime to get her third primary shot and our GP sadly nodded when she asked whether she should expect to take on George Foreman to get the booster.

It’s yet another indication that, amid the deafening roar of omicron, the voices of those most vulnerable to its depredations are going unheard. “We cannot stress enough how abandoned clinically vulnerable people feel and the urgent need to put effective protection and support measures in place,” said Disability Rights UK CEO Kamran Mallick, in a valiant attempt to raise the volume.

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“When all support was removed from 3.8 million Clinically Extremely Vulnerable people earlier this year, it was done within the context of the virus being in retreat, due to the successful roll-out of the vaccination programme.”

But the virus has primed its guns for a fresh sally which is why DR UK wants some of the shielding protections – including arrangements to facilitate the delivery of food and meds as well as employment protection and sick pay – to be restored. It’s also calling for the NHS to identify clinically vulnerable people and provide them with personalised medical advice and support. Ditto local authorities.

Because, yes, things have changed. The very least the government could do for its most vulnerable citizens is to respond to that change, which is what governments are supposed to do. At least competent ones. When it comes to this one I fear we have to ask a rather chilling question: how many people have to die before the man who wore a purple tie on the International Day of People with Disabilities – that would be Johnson – remembers we clinically extremely vulnerable Britons. Plan F?