Pandemic never ended for some

Last week, to mark the fifth anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic, a special debate was held in the House of Commons.

- BY PAISLEY AND RENFREWSHIRE SOUTH MP JOHANNA BAXTER

I used the opportunity to speak on behalf of a group of vulnerable people whose voices continue to go unheard; to amplify the cause of those who are still being shut out of the conversation about the ongoing ramifications of coronavirus and effectively shut out of public life completely - the immunocompromised.

Those who are forced to continue shielding, even five years on.

In 2025, for so many of us, the reality of the Covid-19 pandemic can often feel like a past far removed from today - the losses we suffered were great, the sacrifices made immeasurable, but both are spoken of in the past tense.

A time of loss, of hardship, of isolation; but a time that is now over, even if we all continue to live with the scars of it.

However, through my work as chair for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Vulnerable Groups to Pandemics, I know that for over a million immunocompromised people across the UK, the coronavirus pandemic never truly ended.

Because those people can’t mount an effective response to mRNA vaccines.